The Savannah River unites our region, literally and figuratively, encouraging us to identify creative solutions to shared challenges

Garden City resident Joe Hinely, who traces his family’s history back to the early Georgia settlement of Ebenezer, has fond memories of taking his first fishing trip on the Savannah River with his father in 1954. Today, he loves kayaking the lower river, observing wildlife ranging from manatees and alligators to migratory birds and wild hogs.

“I love the peacefulness of the river,” Hinely says with a smile. “The Savannah River has a special history. Most of our lives are touched in some way by things that are happening on the river right now.”

The undeniable connection between people and the river drives Tonya Bonitatibus, Savannah Riverkeeper’s executive director and riverkeeper, to develop solutions that strategically balance the needs of a wide range of stakeholders along the river’s 400-mile path from the headwaters in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina to the coastal plains of Savannah.

“Our job is to make Elberton, Georgia, and Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, understand that they’re all in the same boat,” Bonitatibus explains. “We have to get people to understand that the decisions they make affect people upstream and downstream. When a decision is made on the river, it impacts everyone.”

Multiple Personalities

From Augusta to Savannah, the river’s use shifts as it winds past 48 different municipal and industrial facilities.

For decades, the Savannah River Site nuclear facility near Aiken, South Carolina, released dangerous levels of tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen, and other pollutants into the river. Today, the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control regularly tests and monitors surface water for contaminants at or near the Savannah River Site.

In the Augusta area, the Savannah River primarily serves as a recreational destination, providing water for a series of lakes created between 1946 and 1985, when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built three major dams for hydroelectricity and flood control.

Further south, the Savannah River’s use becomes largely industrial as manufacturers use the river’s water to dilute manufacturing wastestream. In addition, for more than 1.5 million Georgia and South Carolina residents, the Savannah River serves as the primary source for drinking water.

Savannah Riverkeeper — a nonprofit organization originally founded in 2001 — works to improve water quality and to balance the various needs of individuals, communities, and corporations along the Savannah River. Above all, Savannah Riverkeeper encourages dialogue between various stakeholders, inviting people to come together to achieve common goals that transcend state, city and municipal boundaries.

“The biggest challenge has been getting Georgia and South Carolina to come together,” Bonitatibus admits. “They tend to look at resources only within their state boundary, but that is finally changing. Getting people to sit across the table from one another is so important.”

The regulatory frameworks in each state are quite different, which makes finding common purpose even more challenging.

“Georgia is good about putting laws on the books, but is not robust in terms of enforcement,” Bonitatibus explains. “South Carolina has big gaps in what they regulate and how they regulate.”

For example, the criteria for issuing fishing advisories along the Savannah River are surprisingly different in Georgia compared to South Carolina. Each state uses divergent methodologies to study fish tissue samples, identify serving sizes and determine toxic levels of mercury and other contaminants.

“It’s so important to work together,” Bonitatibus says. “Collaboration is critical.”

Assimilative Capacity

In the Coastal Empire, the Savannah Harbor continues to undergo further deepening in order to support the demands of international commerce and the Georgia Ports Authority, which is one of the busiest container ports in the United States. Due to dredging, areas of the river that naturally run 13 feet are being deepened to 47 feet, threatening the integrity of the natural subterranean aquifer and pushing saltwater from the Atlantic Ocean further inland.

“The saltwater is all the way up to I-95 now,” Bonitatibus explains, “which is much further than it should be.”

At the same time, the Savannah River serves as a primary source of drinking water for Chatham County in Georgia as well as Beaufort County and Jasper County in South Carolina. By any measure, toxic discharge further upriver affects the communities downstream.

Due to a phenomenon scientists refer to as “assimilative capacity,” a river can only handle a finite pollution load before its health is severely compromised.

“We are at a place where the assimilative capacity of the river has been used up to allow companies and cities to do what they need to do,” says Bonitatibus. “The upstream users get their crack at the river first, but the push to deepen the Savannah Harbor is so strong, it affects everyone upriver. In the summer, people in Seneca, South Carolina, are complaining that they can’t put their boats in the water.”

It’s a delicate balance, bridging so many different interests across one 10,000-acre river basin. That is why Savannah Riverkeeper — which has seven full-time staff among offices in Augusta, Savannah, and Allendale, South Carolina — unifies various stakeholders and is focused on facilitating collaboration.

Inspiring Change

Until recently, the Savannah River was ranked the third highest toxic release river in the United States, largely due to industry along its banks. In 2014, the Environment Georgia Research and Policy Center released a report declaring that more than five million pounds of toxic discharge were being released into the Savannah River annually.

Today, the Savannah River isn’t even on the list of the nation’s top 20 most toxic estuaries.

How did such a dramatic shift occur? Savannah Riverkeeper made a concerted effort to align various stakeholders across the region, working toward common goals.

“That success really speaks to the interconnection of the river and the power of working together,” Bonitatibus says. “Savannah is the tail that wags the dog, but it’s also the end of the line, in terms of the cumulative effects of pollution.”

A Resilient River

Dave Mewborn, the outreach coordinator at Savannah Riverkeeper, is in awe of the Savannah River’s resilience throughout history. The estuary, which was named by 18th-century British colonists, has undergone dramatic changes through the centuries, including damming, dredging, pollution and contamination.

“There are so many unique and beautiful tributaries and feeder creeks and streams that run into the Savannah River, and they are historic and integral parts of the river basin, from the Chattooga and Tugaloo starting in North Carolina to the historic blackwater swamp that is home to some of the oldest living things in the southeast in Ebenezer Creek near Springfield and Rincon,” he says. “And we can't forget about all the marsh wetlands in the Lowcountry that support so much life, including thousands of different species of critters, and help our developed civilizations manage flood, storm surge and water quality.”

Mewborn particularly enjoys leading guided kayaking trips along the Savannah River and picking up trash along the way.

“The paddle trips really help to increase awareness and appreciation, just by immersing the paddlers in the water, in nature,” he says. “Those experiences really aid in bringing people together and giving them opportunities to actively get involved in protecting the river basin.”

WORKING TOGETHER TO ACHIEVE REGIONAL GOALS

Tonya Bonitatibus, Savannah Riverkeeper’s executive director and Riverkeeper, offers the following tips to work together effectively across regional differences:

Understand the perspectives of diverse stakeholders. It’s important to realize that various constituents have different investments in regional issues. Take the time to understand the playing field and to gain insight into various perspectives.

Identify points of commonality. Don’t just work with people who think like you. Find points of connection with various stakeholders and work together.

Work with solid data. Be as factual as possible at all times. Strive to be someone who can be trusted to have good data and reliable sources of information.

Be persistent. Continue to raise questions and to insert yourself into the dialogue. Work to become part of the critical calculations as key decisions are made.