Ground Water Availability

The Groundwater Availability assessment will provide information on the ability of water from aquifers in Georgia to meet current and future needs. Together with the Surface Water Availability Assessment, they form the "consumptive use assessment" described in the State Water Plan.

There is a lack of evidence to suggest that increased water use will cause unacceptable impacts to some aquifers. Therefore, EPD will prioritize the aquifers for Groundwater Availability assessment based on the current condition of an aquifer and expected future demands on that aquifer.

For the prioritized aquifers, EPD, with contractor support, will develop groundwater budget models, essentially input and output balances, to determine sustainable yields (the amount of water that can be withdrawn without creating an unacceptable impact such as dropping aquifer level, salt-water intrusion, or significantly lowered surface water).

For the other aquifers, benchmarks will be established to indicate the potential for unacceptable impacts from future withdrawals. Management of these aquifers will focus on monitoring of aquifer response, and the response of other connected water resources, to future increases in withdrawal.