Georgia Department of Natural Resources
Environmental Protection Division
Watershed Protection Branch
2 Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive
Suite 1470A, East Tower
Atlanta, Georgia 30334
August 4, 2026
Emailed to: EPDcomments@dnr.ga.gov on August 4, 2026.
NOTE: LAS =Land Application System, an above-ground method of wastewater treatment
RE: LAS permit issuance – Landing Road Development Water Pollution Control Plant – GAJ040065 (McIntosh County)
To the Permit Review Staff of EPD’s Water Protection Branch:
Summary of Findings & Recommendations
After thorough review and analysis of the proposed project, we conclude that the difficulty of properly maintaining and operating an LAS wastewater treatment facility at this site presents such significant risk of harm to public health and the environment that it should not be permitted. Although it may be theoretically possible to operate the proposed system without contaminating waters of the state – including vulnerable and productive tidal wetlands ecosystems that provide critical wildlife and fisheries habitat – the realities of extreme weather, flooding, facility malfunction, and human error in system maintenance, operation and/or permit enforcement make it very unlikely that the proposed LAS facility can perform without failure. By exercising well-justified precaution in protecting the public interest, we oppose this permit.
Reasons for Our Opposition to the Permit
As documented by the Association of State Floodplain Managers there are significant risks to public health and environmental quality posed by building septic systems in low-elevation coastal areas. (See: https://www.floods.org/news-views/research-and-reports/rising-sea-levels-mean-rising-groundwater-and-that-spells-trouble-for-septic-systems/ ).
These findings are reinforced by the results of a web-search on the topic of using LAS facilities in flood-prone areas.
“Slow-rate land treatment (LAS) wastewater systems in flood-prone areas experience compromised hydraulic capacity, soil saturation failure, and elevated risk of un-treated runoff mixing.” Key performance factors include:
Operational Vulnerabilities
Saturated Drainfields: “High water tables and standing floodwaters halt soil absorption, stopping the biological processing of effluent.”
Buoyancy and Structural Damage: “Empty or partially flooded septic/storage tanks risk floating out of the ground when groundwater levels peak.”
Inflow Overload: “Storm runoff enters inspection ports or application fields, washing out solids and clogging the soil matrix.”
Performance Record & Limitations
Treatment Efficacy: “Under dry conditions, LAS operations effectively biodegrade typical constituents like linear alkylbenzene sulfonate (LAS) detergents by over 90%.” (However, the project site is flood-prone and at low elevation, which greatly restricts dry conditions.)
Failure Rates: “During prolonged flood or high-precipitation events, localized soil saturation dramatically increases system fragility and extends downtime for repairs.”
Furthermore, consider that nearby Fernandina Beach, Florida is hastily seeking to eliminate such septic systems because of these threats.
There are also reasons to question the reliability and enforceability of intended use of housing in this project to ensure limited-term occupancy and the wastewater it’s expected to produce. If market conditions fail to provide adequate revenue for intended purposes, project housing could default to meeting other demands that result in higher occupancy, generating greater volumes of wastewater – thus exceeding LAS treatment capacity and violating the proposed EPD permit.
To supplement this statement, we cite comments about the LAS permit application provided by our board member, Dr. James Reichard, Professor of Geology, specializing in hydrogeology:
1) Given the site’s low surface elevation, I would expect there to be a relatively shallow water table and corresponding thin unsaturated zone.
2) Groundwater levels should be obtained on a monthly basis along with samples for water chemistry analysis. Samples should be tested for nitrate, ammonia, pH and electrical conductivity.
3) In addition to soil clogging, a key issue will be managing the nutrient loading of the LAS (i.e., the uptake capacity of the plants and soils should be greater than the incoming nutrient load). With the expected high-water table, there will likely be a limited capacity of the unsaturated zone for oxidizing NO3 & NH4. Thus, removing the nutriments will largely have to rely on the LAS vegetation.
4) Due to heavy rains and/or tidal flooding, the LAS will periodically become hydraulically overloaded such that the system is no longer functional. Here the flooded unsaturated zone renders the LAS incapable of absorbing any wastewater and nutrients.
5) To prevent untreated wastewater from leaving the site during times of flooding, the LAS should have the ability to store a sufficient amount of wastewater for the entire high-water
period. In my review of the LAS permitting request, I did not see a section on wastewater storage capacity.
6) Finally, LAS flooding and potential release of untreated wastewater will be occurring more frequently as sea level continues to rise.
Recommendation to correct a critical EPD procedural problem
In the course of our assessment of this project, while speaking with EPD staff it came to our attention that other documentation about the project on file at EPD, including engineering design of the LAS proposal, is not accessible to the public without filing an open-records request under GORA. To ensure that the public is sufficiently informed so they fully understand the proposal and its prospective impacts, all such information should be made available online.
By restricting access to relevant information, EPD is failing to serve the public interest by not fulfilling its obligation to ensure transparency in permitting decision procedures. We strongly advise that this deficiency be corrected as soon as possible by making all permit application information readily accessible online, using the permit application name and number.
Respectfully Submitted,
David C. Kyler, Co-Founder & Director
Center for a Sustainable Coast