More than 1,000 existing private wells may be located within a proposed mitigation zone around four municipal wells that would pump up to 6.6 million gallons of water per day to serve Hyundai Motor Company’s 2,500-acre manufacturing complex near Savannah and expected development around the site, an engineering consultant told local development officials last week.
Property owners within a 5-mile radius of those high-volume extraction sites would have access to a fund to cover the cost of adjustments to their own wells if they were adversely affected by the corresponding localized drop in aquifer levels.
Creation of the assistance pool, which has commitments totaling $1 million, is among a handful of conditions included in the Georgia Environmental Protection Division’s proposed permits for the four Bulloch County wells.
The water would be sent to Bryan County to supply Hyundai’s 16-million-square-foot facility and other related growth in the area. Bianca Johnson, a Hyundai spokeswoman, says the plant will use up to 4 million gallons per day when operating at full capacity.