Floridan Aquifer Status for Drought-Restricted Permit Holders

By Wesley Porter and Amilcar Vargas

I know that this only applies to growers located in the Flint River Basin (FRB), but at the same time, it should provide some insight to everyone across the state of what is happening in this region. I probably should have posted all of the information below back in April, but hindsight is 20/20. So here we are.

The main reason for this post is to address an email that was sent out to Drought Restricted Permit Holders on Friday, but I felt like I needed to provide all of the information that I had available also. So first I am going to discuss the email, and then later in the post you will find more information about the three permit modification options.

A quick note on the drought restricted permits and how the decisions are made:

EPD will use data from 15 USGS monitoring wells located in the suspension area.
EPD developed a trigger: if any five of the 15 wells fall below their monthly 10^th percentile water level, the entire suspension area is placed under drought restrictions.
EPD checked the trigger level against historic data:
- A six-month precipitation deficit of 7-8 inches correlates well to the trigger.
- The trigger clearly identifies significant droughts (2000, 2002, 2007, 2011, 2012) and does not capture any non-drought years.

I have listed more in-depth information below about the drought restricted and other permit modifications, so keep reading for more information.

If you did obtain the Drought Restricted Permit you most likely received the email I have posted here on Friday morning and the same information can be found here at this website Floridan Aquifer Status – GA-FIT:

If you did receive this email, you probably knew that you had 24 hours to finish any current irrigation cycle and you cannot irrigate again until the status reaches yellow or red. Well, the good news in this case is that by Saturday, the levels had risen enough in the test wells to push the status back to yellow. I would encourage you that if you do still need irrigation under one of these permits to keep watching the weather and the status of the test wells.

I am not sure how long this will stay in yellow, and at the current point am doubtful that the little bit of rain we did receive over the weekend helped much. However, the good news is that most likely we should be wrapped up on irrigation for the season, especially in the SW corner of the state, where most of our crops should be harvested or in the middle of harvest currently.

If you have further questions about the status, this permit or any other information in this post do not hesitate to contact me more GA EPD. I have also, listed their contact information further into this post.

Information on the Flint River Basin Permit Suspension Modification

Back on April 1, 2025 the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GAEPD) began accepting applications for new agricultural water withdrawals, with drought restriction conditions, from the Floridan Aquifer in Southwest Georgia.

It is important to note that this is MODIFYING NOT LIFTING the 2012 Suspension on drilling new wells in the Floridan Aquifer in this region. The above map shows the areas that are directly effected by this modification. The modification came with four total conditions:

Surface Water Withdrawals: The 2012 suspension will remain in place for the Flint. No new surface water withdrawals or expanded permitted surface water withdrawals.
Three different permit types could be adjusted/added:
- Unrestricted Permit – An option for permit holders that are out of compliance on their existing FRB wells installed prior to 2000 (red zone) or prior to 2012 (green and yellow). Consistent with FRB 2006 Plan.
- Drought Restricted Permit – An option for new water sources and irrigated acres. Restricted from use during drought periods.
- Volumetric Limited Permit – An option for permit holders that are out of compliance on sources and acres. Will rely on the basin average application depth during the most critical drought year (2011) which was 15.94 inches.

Each one of these permits have conditions that are listed by GA EPD. I have used what was provided to me by the GA EPD for these conditions. If you or a farmer has any questions feel free to reach out to me or the GA EPD at ag.permits@dnr.ga.gov or (229) 391-2400.

Unrestricted Permit

Unrestricted Permit (no drought restriction conditions, no volumetric limits), yet consistent with the Flint River Basin Plan of 2006

Unpermitted GW, SW or W2P in a YELLOW or GREEN zone, AND Installed pre-2012, AND no irrigated acreage change since July 30, 2012.

Unpermitted GW, SW or W2P in a YELLOW or GREEN zone, AND Installed pre-2012, BUT, changed irrigated acreage since July 30, 2012. Case by case – Unrestricted permit based on acres seen on or before July 30, 2012. For acres added post 2012, will have to consider compliance options, drill Claiborne well, drought conditioned permit or take acres out of irrigation.

Unpermitted GW, SW or W2P in a YELLOW or GREEN zone, AND Installed pre-2012, AND no irrigated acreage change since July 30, 2012.

Drought Restricted Permit

GW or W2P Installed post-December 1, 1999 AND in the RED ZONE

GW or W2P Installed post-2012, AND in YELLOW or GREEN zone.

New users who wish to install a Floridan well in the Red, Yellow or Green zone.

Drought Restriction Determination

EPD will use data from 15 USGS monitoring wells located in the suspension area.
EPD developed a trigger: if any five of the 15 wells fall below their monthly 10^th percentile water level, the entire suspension area is placed under drought restrictions.
EPD checked the trigger level against historic data:
- A six-month precipitation deficit of 7-8 inches correlates well to the trigger.
- The trigger clearly identifies significant droughts (2000, 2002, 2007, 2011, 2012) and does not capture any non-drought years.

Drought Conditions:

EPD will make a drought restriction determination daily. This determination will be posted to the EPD website (Floridan Aquifer Status – GA-FIT) and shared through text and email. Permittees must check daily whether a drought restriction is in place. If a drought restriction is not in place, the permittee may withdraw water from the Floridan aquifer. If a drought restriction is in place, the permittee may not withdraw water from the Floridan aquifer. Permittees must complete any irrigation application initiated before drought restrictions are put in place within 24 hours of a drought restriction being put in place.

Volumetric Limited Permit

An option for permit holders that are out of compliance on acres. Must have permitted GW, SW, or W2P and irrigating excess acres than allowed under the permit. Acceptable for RED, YELLOW, or GREEN zones. The permittee will accept the imposition of an annual volumetric limitation in the permit in exchange for the removal of acreage limitation and thus resolving the compliance case. Also, an option for a permit holder that is in compliance today but wishes to expand their irrigated acres and accept volumetric conditions. This will rely on the basin average application depth during the most critical drought year (2011) which was 15.94 inches. For each year (and associated growing season), the permittee has a fixed volume of water (15.94 inches) under the permit and can decide when to apply it, subject to the annual volume limitation.

Over-Irrigating Permitted Acres (Have an Issued Permit) – Permit Corrections

Eligible for Permit Correction:

Permitted GW, SW, or W2P but irrigating acres in excess of permitted amount & acres added pre-December 1, 1999 AND in the RED ZONE
Permitted GW, SW, or W2P but irrigating acres in excess of permitted amount & acres added pre-July 30, 2012 AND in YELLOW or GREEN zone.

Ineligible for Permit Correction:

Permitted GW, SW, or W2P but irrigating acres in excess of permitted amount & acres added post-December 1, 1999 AND in the RED ZONE. Case by case – Unrestricted permit based on acres seen on or before July 30, 2012. For acres added post 2012, will have to consider compliance options, drill Claiborne well, drought conditioned permit or take acres out of production.
Permitted GW, SW, or W2P but irrigating acres in excess of permitted amount & acres added post-July 30, 2012 AND in YELLOW or GREEN zone. For acres added post 2012, will have to consider compliance options, drill Claiborne well, drought conditioned permit or take acres out of production.

Compliance Management Strategy

Compliance options would be used to at a minimum, maintain the permitted acreage at the time of the 2012 suspension, and where possible provide a flow benefit and compliance options include:

New Drought-conditioned permits
Modified Permits to include volumetric limits instead of acreage
Removal of acres from irrigation
Consolidation of permits
Consolidation lite
Acre exchange-shifting acres between permits held by the same person
In some situations, consent orders significantly curtail or eliminate water withdrawals may be necessary for protecting existing users and the water resource
Penalties

For unpermitted sources and over-irrigating acres, EPD employs several tools to address compliance cases:

Field Investigations – Groundwater Withdrawals: EPD inspects wells to verify the aquifer and measures withdrawal rates to determine if a permit is required. For Surface Water Withdrawals Pumps are inspected to ensure pump capacity is below the permitting threshold.
Permit Modification – EPD reviews cases where additional capacity exists on an existing permit. If the unpermitted source is part of the same system as a permitted source, and the combined withdrawal does not exceed the permitted gallons per minute (GPM) from the same aquifer, a permit modification may be possible.
Drought Restricted Permit – If the unpermitted source is the Floridan aquifer in the 2012 suspension area, the landowner can apply for a drought-restricted permit for that withdrawal. The landowner would have to cease irrigating during drought.

Metering Requirements

New and modified permits will require the standard requirements for metering agricultural water use, as well as requiring an EPD prescribed telemetry unit capable of transmitting withdrawal information on an hourly basis. This telemetry unit would assist with assessing compliance of the drought restrictions included in this permit. A new permittee would pay for the telemetry capable meter; however, the State would be responsible for the cost of the telemetry unit.

Application Process

Application Meeting: Reach out to EPD’s Agricultural Water Withdrawal Program to schedule meeting for application completion and clarify permitting conditions & compliance education. This will ease the process, and ensure EPD, and the applicant, both have the same understanding of your withdrawal proposal.
Application Submission: Complete and submit application forms with details about the planned withdrawal, use, location, and irrigated acres.
Review and Evaluation: EPD reviews applications for resource impacts and consults with applicants as needed.
Letter of Concurrence (LOC): Issued upon approval, confirming the withdrawal can proceed with conditions and a one-year timeline for installation, information to be returned, and metering requirements.
Permit Issuance: If all requirements are met, EPD issues the final permit with conditions, allowing withdrawal for farm use.