According to the EPA Toxics Release Inventory, the Savannah River is currently the 7th most toxic river in the United States.
Diverse activities and topography result in many types of pollution. A large river basin, variety of waters and land use activities and changes in topography, create many water pollution and other environmental problems.
Watch "Before Too Long", a film by Savannah College of Art and Design Student Chris Hannant:
Issues that plague the Savannah River include:
Mercury contamination from a chlor-alkali plant in Augusta (Olin), emissions from coal fired furnaces and old medical incinerators, and waste from old textile factories
Air pollution - Augusta continually fails to meet federal standards for clean air
Inadequate coordination and permit enforcement designed to limit pollutants discharged
Harbor deepening in the Port of Savannah -which is essentially ecologically dead
Storm water runoff that flushes gas & oil residue as well as eroded soil into the river
Dams, which disrupt wildlife habitats and oxygen levels in the river
Development too close to the water/lack of an effective buffer policy disrupts wetlands that are vital to wildlife and natural flood control
Agricultural runoff, especially nitrogen and phosphates from fertilizers
Dumping of industrial waste into city sewers, which are ill-equipped to treat it
Saltwater intrusion - movement of saline water into freshwater, mostly caused by construction of channels or ground-water pumping.