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| Water Utilities |
| Billing & Service |
| (912) 651-6460 |
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| Report a problem |
| Water leaks, smell or discoloration |
| Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. |
| Call 311 or (912) 651-6565 |
| After hours and holidays |
| Call (912) 351-3434 |
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Conveyance and Distribution Department
Post Office Box 1027
Savannah, Georgia 31402
(912) 651-6584
James Laplander, P.E.
Conveyance and Distribution Director
JLaplander@savannahga.gov
 Department Contacts
Mission Statement
Conveyance: To ensure the collection and uninterrupted transportation of sanitary sewage through a series of pipes within the city maintained sanitary sewer system in accordance with local, state, and federal regulations to the city's waste water treatment plants.
Distribution: To operate and maintain the infrastructure necessary to deliver safe potable water at flows and pressure sufficient to meet current residential, commercial, industrial, institutional, and fire protection demands and to accommodate and promote growth.
Trends and Issues
The Conveyance and Distribution Department is made up of three activities. Each activity has a job to provide for the community. They are Water Distribution, Sewer Maintenance and Lift Station Maintenance.
Water Distribution
The Water Distribution activity is responsible for the operation and maintenance of seven distribution systems. These systems include 78,000 metered customers served by 852 miles of water line.
The activity also helps to ensure the community has water for good flow and pressure to meet its needs, including fire protection. Maintaining the existing groundwork is only one of the activity's responsibilities. Planning for future growth in the community is also an important job.
The major issues facing Water Distribution include an aging infrastructure. Savannah's historic and Victorian areas have lines that are more than 100 years old. The activity shall remain vigilant in line replacement, reduction in leaks, and water conservation. This will help meet the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) Interim Groundwater Strategy's mandate of 10 million gallons per day decrease in groundwater use.
Conveyance - Sewer Maintenance
Sewer Maintenance staff is responsible for assuring that continuous waste water service in the city of Savannah service area sanitary sewer system is effectively accomplished. In order to carry out this task, it is necessary that the operation and maintenance of approximately 834 miles of sewer line and 17,000 manholes which convey waste water to the four treatment plants are in place.
As a part of this responsibility, Sewer Maintenance personnel must clean and repair sewer lines and manholes, as well as, provide service to new water and sewer customers in the Savannah service area. Effective performance of these responsibilities must be accomplished or system failures will result in waste water overflows into the environment. Conditions or elements which can cause a sewer system spill include aged sewer main collapses, tree root intrusions, system vandalism or blockage caused by grease introduced into the system. Sanitary sewer overflows into the environment can result in public health concerns, excessive mitigation costs and punitive fines from state and federal environmental regulatory agencies.
An important issue confronting Sewer Maintenance includes the reduction of storm and ground water inflow and infiltration into the sanitary system. This issue will be addressed by continuing the program of reducing the inflow and infiltration by rehabilitation or replacing defective sewer mains and manholes, and removing sources of storm water connections to the sanitary sewer system. Additionally, Sewer Maintenance will continue the trend of removing improper sanitary sewer service connections to the storm water system. This task will be accomplished by redirecting the services to the sanitary sewer systems; or in some cases, extending additional sanitary mains in areas where the improper connections exist.
Conveyance - Lift Station Maintenance
The Lift Station Maintenance activity is responsible for conveying a continuous flow of waste water to the four treatment plant facilities through a series of sewage pumping stations. Currently, this task is accomplished by operating and maintaining 182 lift stations throughout the city of Savannah service area. These lift stations contain mechanical, electrical, and fail-safe systems which must be continuously operated and maintained in order to prevent waste water spills into the environment. Lift station staff must perform timely inspections and repairs of equipment contained within these lift station sites in order to accomplish this task. Conditions or elements which can cause a failure of a lift station include defective components, inclement weather or vandalism. Failures in the operation of these lift stations can result in waste water overflows into the environment which result in public health concerns, excessive mitigation costs, and punitive fines from state and federal environmental regulatory agencies.
A major issue which continuously confronts the Lift Station Maintenance activity is the upgrade and modernization of the electrical, mechanical, and fail-safe systems at the individual stations. The electrical systems include components such as control panels, variable frequency drives, and emergency power generators. The mechanical components include pumps, valves, and discharge piping. The fail-safe system includes the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system, auto-dialers, and station visual and audible alarms. These systems require continuous operation and maintenance due to the corrosive conditions caused by the conveyance of waste water.
Lift Station Maintenance will continue the trend of implementing improved odor control technology at lift station sites which create an odor nuisance to the public. The element which causes the undesirable odors as a part of waste water conveyance is hydrogen sulfide. Methods necessary to reduce or neutralize hydrogen sulfide content will be implemented. This area of improvement will minimize public concern, and reduce the corrosive damage to conveyance infrastructure by the inherent conditions which generate the noxious odors. |
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