AUGUSTA, GA - The Savannah River affects lives and livelihoods in 44 counties in three states. On Sept. 18 in Augusta, Georgia, public officials, scientists and other stakeholders presented their views and proposals for managing the river. Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue delivered the keynote address.

Hosted by the Southeastern Natural Sciences Academy, and co-hosted by Clemson University Restoration Institute, the forum brought together scientists, environmentalists, engineers, regulatory agencies, and economic developers to discuss vital river issues: sharing water supplies and wasteload allocation, addressing TMDL issues associated with low dissolved oxygen in the Savannah Harbor, preserving the ecology of the river basin, maintaining commercial and recreation usage and to broaden awareness of the impact the river has on the region's economy.

Savannah River at Risk Research Project
After much deliberation, reconnaissance, and preliminary testing, the research division deployed the last of ten YSI sondes (multi-parameter water quality monitoring systems) within the Middle Savannah watershed in the third week of January 2006. The study span starts above Steven’s Creek Dam in Columbia County, GA to Clyo, GA. Each sonde is collecting seven different water quality parameters at fifteen minute intervals for two years, that’s 280 data points per hour or 2,452,800 data points over the entire two year study period. In addition to continuous monitoring with sondes, we will be analyzing water chemistry, biota (primarily phytoplankton and macroinvertebrates), weather, and flow data.

Our research approach is to follow a parcel of water as it travels from the first through the last of the monitoring stations. This is known as a Lagrangian approach and will allow the research team to elucidate relationships between chemical, physical, and biological elements of the river and its watershed. Interplay of these elements is crucial to understanding the current health of the river and its capacity to handle future stresses that will be required of it. Although rigorous, this approach will result in a high quality data set that will be used to make informed decisions about future local and regional issues regarding the precious commodity that flows between Georgia and South Carolina.