Al Hackle, Statesboro Herald

After some questions, four Bulloch County commissioners unanimously approved standby contracts Tuesday with three well drilling companies who would make service calls, potentially lower pumps or even drill new wells for adversely affected private well owners within five miles of the four high-volume wells created to supply water to Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America.

The Bulloch County government owns two of the “Hyundai” wells and Bryan County owns the other two, although all four are geographically within southeastern Bulloch County near the Bryan County line. Together, the four wells are permitted by the Georgia Environmental Protection Division to pump up to 6.625 million gallons per day on average over the course of a year. In a study summarized for the public in February 2024, EPD scientists predicted that the four large wells could draw down the water level in the deep Floridan aquifer by a maximum of 19 feet close to those wells. The “cone of depression” created by the withdrawal would slope upward from there, dropping the highwater mark about 10 feet at a five-mile distance from the wells, in the EPD’s projections.

So, in issuing the permits, EPD required the counties to set up a mitigation fund to pay for fixing any private deep wells that lose pressure or go dry within a five-mile radius of the Interstate 16-Georgia Highway 119 interchange, roughly the center point for the Hyundai supply wells.

The Development Authority of Bulloch County, Development Authority of Bryan County, Savannah Harbor-Interstate 16 Corridor Joint Development Authority and Hyundai Motor Group each committed $250,000, creating a $1 million fund for what has been dubbed the Groundwater Sustainability Program. Several months ago, the boards of commissioners in Bulloch and Bryan counties each appointed members to a joint advisory committee, and each county appointed a staff member as its “mitigation manager,” Bulloch’s being Planning and Development Director James Pope. The managers and advisory committee held public meetings April 14 and June 26.

So one remaining step was to retain the agreed upon number of well drillers. As interim County Engineer Ron Nelson reviewed for the Bulloch commissioners during their 8:30 a.m. July 15 regular meeting, the county staff’s first “request for proposals” attracted only two well drilling firms. Postings were originally made in April to the Georgia Procurement Register, the Bulloch County Vendor Registry and on the county webpage.

“The proposal due date originally was May 8, 2025, but we were unsuccessful in our end result of trying to procure three, a minimum of three, on-call well drillers,” said Nelson. “So we immediately started another procurement.”

That second call for proposals, with a May 15 notice and June 5 due date, did result in “three proposals from three qualified, licensed well drillers,” he reported.

The three companies now confirmed for three-year on-call contracts are Beasley Well Drilling & Pump Services, which has a Statesboro address; Mobley’s Well & Pump Service, based in Vidalia; and Sean’s Well Drilling, from the little town of Avera in Jefferson County.

After receiving the proposals, county staff obtained permission from the commissioners to negotiate with the would be contractors and so arrived at fees for services and prices for well pumps and other equipment that are the same for all three companies.

Costs will be funded from the Bryan- Bulloch joint mitigation fund, Nelson noted.

People who need to apply for well mitigation should contact the two-county Groundwater Sustainability Program and not the well drillers directly. The information and claims hotline is 1-888353-8020, or visit www.bryanbullochgsp. org for more information. Also, as explained below, the Hyundai wells aren’t pumping yet and so shouldn’t be the source of any current problems.

Newkirk’s questions

Only five commissioners were present Tuesday, but that was enough for a quorum of Bulloch County’s governing board, which consists of six commissioners elected by two districts and the countywide-elected chair. With Chairman David Bennett on vacation, Vice Chairman Toby Conner – a district commissioner who holds that position this year in rotation – conducted the meeting but did not vote. Commissioner Timmy Rushing was also away.

Before the motion and vote, Commissioner Nick Newkirk asked county Chief Financial Officer Kristie King if the mitigation fund had been set up yet.

“We are working on the agreement between Bulloch and Bryan County to get it officially set up,” King replied.

“Do we need to approve anything that the fund is paying for if we don’t have that fund set up yet?” Newkirk said, “because I’d hate to go into contract with them and all of a sudden a well gives out and Bulloch County’s actually paying for it and not the fund.”

“They’re not currently pumping water, correct?” King asked other staff members.

Pope indicated that the Hyundai wells are not pumping yet, and meanwhile County Attorney Jeff Akins interjected that if a mitigation cost had to be paid by the county before the mitigation fund becomes available, the county could be reimbursed from the fund later.

“This just makes me nervous about that,” Newkirk said. “I’d hate to be putting more money on the taxpayers already.”

Still not pumping

When Newkirk asked when the wells will begin pumping, Pope answered, “sometime this quarter,” which runs through September.

“Some other considerations,” including the completion of the wastewater treatment system, owned by Bryan County, which will serve the massive electric vehicle plant have delayed the startup of the wells, Pope said.

“If they pull more water, they’ve got to treat more water, and I don’t think their treatment plant is exactly running on all cylinders right now,” he said.

Commissioner Ray Mosley made the motion, seconded by Commissioner Anthony Simmons, to approve the contract with Beasley Well Drilling, and it passed unanimously with Newkirk joining in the “yes” vote. The contracts with Mobley’s Well & Pump and Sean’s Well Drilling were also approved by 4-0 votes on separate motions.

An identical fee schedule is attached to each contract. It begins with a “blended hourly rate” of $95.25 based on hourly rates of $95 for a field technician, weighted as 75% of the blended rate; $100 for a project manager, as 20% of the time used, and $80 for a customer service representative, as 5% of the total.

The flat rate for a service call to a resident or property owner’s well in the fivemile radius is then given as $290, based on a three-hour estimate of the typical time required at the $95.25 blended rate.

The cost to install a new submersible pump in a four-inch well is set at $571.50, also based on the hourly rate. But the parts cost of a four-inch, 1.5-horsepower pump is given at $3,070, and there are other parts with costs listed. The flat rate for installing an all-new, four-inch well up to 650 feet deep would be either $16,900 or $17,900, depending on the pump and tank size.

Al Hackle is a correspondent for the Statesboro Herald.