Savannah-Upper Ogeechee Regional Water Plan (2011)
Historical edition. This independent guide describes the September 2011 plan. It is not an official state publication or a statement of current requirements.
The Savannah-Upper Ogeechee plan brings together two contrasting planning problems: a major river system influenced by federal reservoirs and smaller watersheds where seasonal irrigation can affect low flows. Its historical value lies in showing how supply, infrastructure, dissolved oxygen and interstate coordination were considered within the same regional plan.
Document at a glance
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Document | Savannah-Upper Ogeechee Regional Water Plan |
| Edition | September 2011; adopted-plan file recovered from the former water-planning website |
| Responsible council | Savannah-Upper Ogeechee Regional Water Planning Council |
| Length | 119 PDF pages, including front matter |
| Planning horizon | 2050 |
| Historical filename | SUO_Adopted_RWP_000.pdf |
Area and planning context
The 2011 edition covers 20 counties and 67 incorporated municipalities. It discusses the Savannah, Ogeechee and parts of other basins, with Lake Hartwell, Richard B. Russell Lake and Lake Thurmond prominent in the Savannah system. The resource description distinguishes areas supplied by regulated surface water from places that depend more strongly on groundwater.
What makes this edition useful
The plan's supply assessment for the Savannah system depended on assumptions about federal reservoir operations. It identified possible seasonal instream-flow shortfalls associated with irrigation in the Ogeechee basin and discussed dissolved-oxygen constraints that connect upstream discharges with Savannah Harbor. Local infrastructure requirements and coordination with South Carolina are additional themes; neither is captured by a single regional water-balance figure.
The discussion above is based on the plan's executive summary. Read the archived source.
What the document contains
Sources, forecasts and operating assumptions
The inventory and forecasting material set out the regional user mix and water and wastewater expectations through 2050. Reservoir operation is an important condition attached to interpreting the surface-water assessment.
Seasonal demand in the Ogeechee basin
The comparison of resources and future needs examines the relationship between irrigation and streamflow during low-flow periods. The management discussion includes conservation, drought-related action and better flow information.
Dissolved oxygen and wastewater
The water-quality analysis discusses receiving-water limitations, treatment improvements and the Savannah Harbor dissolved-oxygen management context. Readers can follow the connection between local discharges and effects elsewhere in the river system.
Priority actions and coordination
The council identified 16 priority practices and 14 additional practices for consideration. Later sections address local master planning, implementation, benchmarks and cooperation across the Georgia-South Carolina boundary.
What you can use it for
- Savannah basin planning history. Identify the operating assumptions underlying the 2011 resource assessment before comparing it with later reservoir and water-planning documents.
- Agricultural drought research. Follow the treatment of seasonal irrigation and instream-flow needs in the Upper Ogeechee system.
- Wastewater policy reporting. Explain the regional context for dissolved-oxygen concerns and why discharge management can require cooperation across jurisdictions.
These are suggested research uses of the document, not claims that the council produced it for each of these specific audiences.
A practical reading route
- Start with the executive summary. PDF pages 12, 13, 14 contain the region-specific context and findings used in this guide. PDF page numbers include covers and may differ from the printed labels.
- Use the resource inventory and forecasting chapters to identify the source, user sector, baseline and scenario behind the issue you are studying.
- Follow the capacity comparison into the selected management practices. Read the implementation material before describing a proposal as a commitment, a funded project or a completed intervention.
- Consult the bibliography and referenced technical studies for modeling methods and supporting assumptions. A referenced study or supplementary memorandum is not necessarily included in the main PDF.
Useful questions to take into the source:
- Which conclusions depend on assumed reservoir operations?
- Is the constraint seasonal, infrastructure-related or associated with receiving-water quality?
- Which proposed actions require coordination beyond the regional council?
How to interpret the historical findings
A finding conditional on a reservoir operating protocol is not a permanent guarantee of water availability. Discussions of interstate coordination and Savannah Harbor management describe the period in which this edition was prepared.
Keep observations, forecasts and recommendations separate. A projection for 2050 records what the 2011 planning exercise expected under its assumptions; it does not establish what has happened since. For present-day decisions, check the applicable later plan, source studies and agency guidance.
Read or obtain the original
- Internet Archive: view the September 2011 PDF.
- Internet Archive: open the archived PDF directly. This is the external archived copy, not a PDF hosted by this independent site.
- EPD: official regional plan catalog. For current planning, use this official catalog; its newer editions are separate documents.
- If an older copy is unavailable, ask Georgia EPD at water.planning@dnr.ga.gov for the September 2011 edition.
The archived PDF was retrieved and opened successfully on 31 October 2026. External archives may later change their availability.
May 2011 consultation version
An earlier consultation-stage file was also recovered: SUOInitialRecommendedRegionalWaterPlan_May2011.pdf (118 PDF pages). It is a different edition from the September plan described above. This guide does not assert that the draft and adopted recommendations are identical.
Open the May 2011 consultation-stage PDF in the Internet Archive. Use this version if you are following a citation to the initial recommendations or studying the consultation process. Compare the two originals before attributing a change to the public-review period.
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About this guide
This page is an original editorial description and reading guide. It does not reproduce the report's text, tables, maps or photographs. The document title identifies the source; links lead to third-party repositories or the official planning program. This website is independently operated and is not affiliated with Georgia EPD or the regional council.