Savannah is Georgia’s oldest city and its busiest port, sitting where the Savannah River empties into the Atlantic Ocean. The city’s drinking water comes not from the river but from deep below — the Upper Floridan Aquifer, a massive limestone formation that stretches across the Georgia-South Carolina coastal plain.
The Floridan Aquifer provides naturally filtered groundwater of generally good quality. But Savannah faces a set of pressures that threaten this resource: saltwater intrusion from decades of overpumping, industrial contamination from one of the largest ports on the East Coast, and the proximity of the Savannah River Site’s nuclear legacy upstream.
The Floridan Aquifer: Deep, Productive, and Under Pressure
The City of Savannah’s water system draws from wells tapping the Upper Floridan Aquifer at depths of 300 to 600 feet. The aquifer is confined — meaning it’s capped by a clay layer that protects it from most surface contamination. The water is naturally filtered through limestone and emerges with low turbidity and minimal bacterial contamination.
Treatment is relatively simple: chlorination for disinfection, lime softening to reduce hardness (the limestone aquifer produces hard water), and fluoridation. Savannah’s treated water consistently meets all federal drinking water standards.
The critical threat is saltwater intrusion. Decades of heavy pumping — by Savannah’s municipal system, industrial users, and military installations — have lowered the aquifer’s potentiometric surface (the pressure level) enough to allow saltwater to migrate inland from the coast. The chloride concentration in monitoring wells near Hilton Head Island (which shares the same aquifer system) has been rising steadily.
Georgia’s Environmental Protection Division has imposed pumping restrictions in the coastal zone, requiring Savannah and other users to find alternative sources or reduce groundwater withdrawals. The city has invested in expanding its surface water treatment capacity from Abercorn Creek as a supplemental source, reducing pressure on the Floridan Aquifer.
Industrial Port: Savannah’s Economic Engine and Environmental Burden
The Port of Savannah is the third-busiest container port in the United States, handling over 5 million TEUs annually. The port’s expansion — including the deepening of the Savannah River shipping channel to 47 feet — has environmental implications for the broader water environment.
Channel deepening alters salinity dynamics in the river, pushing saltwater further upstream during low-flow periods. While this primarily affects the estuarine ecosystem rather than the drinking water aquifer directly, it’s part of the broader pattern of saltwater advancement that Savannah must manage.
Industrial operations associated with the port — fuel storage, container washing, ship maintenance — contribute petroleum, heavy metals, and industrial chemicals to stormwater that enters the Savannah River and its tributaries. The Georgia EPD regulates these discharges under the Clean Water Act, but the cumulative impact of a major industrial port on water quality is significant.
Paper Mills and Chemical Plants
Savannah’s industrial landscape includes major paper and pulp manufacturing — International Paper and other facilities have operated in the Savannah area for decades. Paper mills discharge treated effluent containing nutrients, organic compounds, and historically, dioxins and furans from chlorine bleaching processes.
The Rayonier Advanced Materials facility in Jesup (south of Savannah) and other regional paper operations contribute to the industrial chemical footprint in Georgia’s coastal plain. While these operations have modernized their treatment processes, legacy contamination in river sediments and groundwater near former disposal sites persists.
Military PFAS
Hunter Army Airfield, located within Savannah’s city limits, and the nearby Fort Stewart have been identified as potential PFAS sources due to historical AFFF firefighting foam use. The Department of Defense has conducted preliminary assessments at both installations.
PFAS contamination in groundwater near Hunter Army Airfield has been detected in monitoring wells. The contamination’s interaction with the Floridan Aquifer system — specifically whether PFAS can migrate from shallow groundwater through the confining clay layer into the deeper drinking water aquifer — is a key question under investigation.
Savannah’s municipal wells have been sampled for PFAS, with levels in treated drinking water below the EPA’s 2024 MCLs. The confined nature of the Floridan Aquifer provides significant protection against surface-originating PFAS, but the protection isn’t absolute — any breach in the confining layer (from wells, geological faults, or construction) creates a potential pathway.
Savannah River Site: Nuclear Legacy Upstream
The Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site (SRS) — a former nuclear weapons production complex — sits roughly 100 miles upstream of Savannah on the Savannah River. During Cold War production, SRS released tritium, cesium-137, strontium-90, and various chemical contaminants into the Savannah River and local groundwater.
While Savannah’s drinking water comes from the Floridan Aquifer rather than the river, the Savannah River is hydraulically connected to the aquifer in some areas. DOE’s ongoing cleanup at SRS includes monitoring for any contamination that might migrate downstream and into the regional groundwater system.
Tritium levels in the Savannah River near the SRS have been declining since production ceased, and current levels are well below drinking water standards. But the presence of a major nuclear remediation site upstream of a city that depends on groundwater is a permanent consideration in Savannah’s water quality management.
What Savannah Residents Can Do
The municipal water supply is well-managed and meets federal standards. Saltwater intrusion is a long-term threat rather than an immediate drinking water concern:
- Review the annual CCR — the City of Savannah publishes detailed water quality reports.
- Private well owners on the coastal plain: test for chloride (saltwater indicator), hardness, and bacteria.
- Near military installations: test for PFAS if on a private well.
- Support water conservation — reducing aquifer pumping is the most direct way to slow saltwater intrusion.
If you’re concerned about your water quality, a certified water treatment professional can help you test your water and recommend the right solution for your home.