Coastal Georgia Faces Unique Environmental Challenges
By Mary Landers
Reprinted by permission of The Savannah Morning News
912.652.0337 - 0335
landers@savannahnow.com
[Note to our readers and members: This article appeared in The Savannah Morning News on June 25, 2003 and is
reprinted here in its entirety. For further information on these and other critical coastal Georgia issues,
please refer to other postings on this website.]
Coastal Georgia faces many of the same concerns about air, water and land that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency outlined for the country as a whole in its "Report on the Environment," released Monday.
But the coast also has its own environmental challenges: areas of dying marsh, declining blue crab population, increasing development and over pumping of its drinking water supply.
Chief among them is preserving the 350,000 acres of salt marsh that transition the land and freshwater to the sea. That's a third of all the salt marsh on the country's East Coast, according to Jan Mackinnon, a biologist with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
Last year, pockets of unexplained die-back started popping up in all six coastal counties.
Drought may have been a factor. Mackinnon is headed out this week to check on reports of die-back near Midway regenerating.
"After last week's rain, we had reports of green showing up along the Jerico (River), but we've not confirmed that yet," she said.
The 1998-2002 dry spell is also a major suspect in Georgia's ailing blue crab fishery. The blue crab catch decreased from a long-term average of 8 million pounds a year to a little more than 2 million pounds last year.
Drought may have disrupted the crabs' reproduction by driving females too far upstream in their search for less salty conditions. Increased salinity also favors the growth of a lethal crab parasite called Hematodinium, according to Doug Haymans, the blue crab liaison for the Georgia DNR.
The National Marine Fisheries Service recently declared Georgia's blue crab fishery a "commercial fisheries failure." That lets the state seek federal money to aid fishermen and fund additional studies of the blue crab.
While drought is cyclical, increased development along the coast seems likely to stay. That has increased pressure on marsh hammocks -- the small islands of high ground in the marsh.
Prompted by a controversial plan to build bridges to connect hammocks to Savannah's Emerald Pointe subdivision, a group convened by the DNR made preliminary recommendations on managing the hammocks. Among other things, the group suggested restrictions on bridge building based on the size of the hammock, its proximity to the mainland and how much marsh would be affected.
But marsh hammocks are just part of the growth picture, said Patty McIntosh, a member of the DNR-orgnanized group and director of coastal programs for the Georgia Conservancy. Increasing population pressures the whole coast -- marsh and upland included.
"We've gotten smarter with ways to grow that are not harmful," McIntosh said. "We just have to commit to taking actions toward that end."
Growth has also forced coastal Georgia to examine threats to the Floridan Aquifer -- the underground source of most of its drinking water. The state has a moratorium through 2005 on new withdrawals from the upper Floridan Aquifer in the 24-county coastal area.
The aquifer faces influxes of salt water at Hilton Head and Brunswick. Saltwater intrusion threatens the water supply in Savannah but probably not for 100 years, said Jim Reichard, associate professor of geology at Georgia Southern University.
"As long as we keep pumping large quantities on the coast, it's going to continue to be an issue," Reichard said. The millions of gallons a day pumped for paper mills are the main source of the problem, Reichard added. "When Rayonier in Jesup (temporarily) shut down, ground water levels in Savannah rebounded overnight," Reichard said.
Proposed deepening of the Savannah Harbor also has raised some concerns about the future of the aquifer, with critics fearing the deeper dredging might crack or weaken the rocky barrier that keeps sea water out.
No one knows how likely that is, but groups such as the Southern Environmental Law Center oppose dredging to a depth of 48 feet mainly for other reasons: the serious impacts they predict it'll have on the ecology of the lower Savannah River, especially the tidal freshwater marshes of the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge.
"We've already lost half the freshwater marsh to salinity," said Blan Holman, staff attorney for the SELC. "We're concerned that deepening this would let a lot more salt water in."
Deepening may also degrade habitat for fish such as striped bass and short-nosed sturgeon.
But the proposed project has generated unprecedented scientific study of the river -- $13 million-worth so far , said Hope Moorer, spokeswoman for the Georgia Ports Authority, which wants the deepening so it can serve larger container ships.
The draft of the environmental impact statement for the second round of studies is expected to be issued in 2005.
"For two years we studied what fish are out there, where they are and what the conditions are out there in the river," Moorer said.
"Some pretty incredible work is going on."
POLLUTANTS ALONG GEORGIA'S COAST
(Note: This was included in the print version of the same Savannah Morning News article, June 25, 2003)
MERCURY
Fallout affects Georgia's coastal waters;
A neurotoxin, it can cause developmental and neurological problems;
Much of it is from coal-fired power plants;
The EPA advises against eating king mackerel bigger than a meter long anywhere on the Georgia coast. And it advises restricting consumption of smaller mackerel. Similar advisories exist for the Savannah River through
Chatham and Effingham counties for channel catfish and largemouth bass.
EPA lists fish advisories at http://map1.epa.gov/.
SMOG
The American Lung Association gave Savannah a smog grade of "C" this year, noting that there were four days from 1999-2001 when the air was unhealthy
for sensitive groups including asthmatics.
NON-COMPLIANCE WITH DISCHARGE PERMITS, JANUARY 2000-MARCH 2001.*
Kerr-McGee Pigments in Savannah violated monthly effluent limits in two quarters.
Savannah Travis Field WPCP violated non-monthly effluent limits in one quarter.
Richmond Hill (Elbow Swamp) violated monthly effluent limit in one quarter.
PERMIT VIOLATIONS FOR HIGH HAZARD CHEMICALS, JAN. 1, 1999-DEC. 21, 2001
Hercules-Brunswick, toxaphene 66,567percent over maximum allowed.
Toxaphene is a recognized carcinogen and a suspected cardio/blood, developmental, endocrine, gastro/liver, kidney,
neuro, reproductive, and respiratory toxicant.
Source: Georgia Public Interest Research Group
*Not included in this listing were numerous other permit violations upriver from the coast, but potentially impairing coastal water quality, as well as valuable aquatic, and marine resources.
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