City of Savannah: Official News, Events & Community Updates
City Issues Notice to Customers Regarding Incident at I&D Water Treatment Plant
SAVANNAH – Current City of Savannah water customers will receive a notification by mail this week from the Office of Water Resources concerning an operational incident that required a Notice of Violation (NOV) being issued to the City by the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD).
Customers should note that water provided by the City of Savannah met the required standards both during and after the incident. Per the NOV, a customer notification must be made to affected customers by mail with an EPD established deadline of July 7, 2025.
The City’s Industrial & Domestic (I&D) Water Treatment Plant (WTP) processes approximately 50 Million Gallons Per Day (MGD) of water drawn from Abercorn Creek. The I&D plant processes the water through a carefully regulated process to produce potable water which is then distributed to customers.
On May 12, 2025, I&D WTP staff increased the feed rate of aluminum sulfate (alum) to approximately double the normal dosage following heavy rainfall on May 10-12 and changing raw water conditions.
Alum is a coagulant used to treat water that binds particles in the water causing them to separate and be more easily removed. Calculations are performed by plant operators during the treatment process to determine the optimal amount of alum needed to treat the water. Calculations on May 12 indicated more coagulant would be needed due to heavy rainfall and raw water conditions.
On May 15, a portion of raw water with a reduced coagulant dose entered the water treatment process. Operators monitor the process by checking the turbidity state, which is the condition or quality of opaqueness due to presence of suspended particles. Optimal turbidity levels are below 0.30 Nephelometric Turbidity Units (NTU).
Plant operators identified elevated turbidity levels around 2.0 NTU on May 15 at 10:15 p.m. and immediately took corrective action. By 1 a.m. on May 16 the process began recovering and by 4 a.m. the process returned to optimal operating conditions. The City notified EPD staff on May 16 via telephone and communicated details of the incident. City staff tested 71 water samples on May 16 and May 17 and confirmed that the water sent to customers met the required standards. No boil water notice was required.
Due to the temporarily elevated NTU levels, EPD issued an NOV to the City dated May 28, 2025 and received June 4, 2025. To help prevent future occurrences, operator retraining has occurred, and the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) has been enhanced for coagulant dosing under variable raw water quality conditions.
Residents wishing to learn more may contact the City of Savannah’s Office of Water Resources at 912-651-6573.
NOTFICATION
WATER TREATMENT PROCESS VIDEOS
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