USACE conducts dye tests in Savannah River

Specialists working with USACE Savannah District are conducting dye test along the Savannah River in Effingham and Chatham Counties.

Testing of the dissolved oxygen injections systems installed along the river is part of the ongoing environmental mitigation program for the Savannah River Expansion Project.

The tests consist of injecting environmentally safe, red dye into the river to determine dispersion of dissolved oxygen.

Tests take place near the new DO injection system adjacent to Plant McIntosh and across the Garden City Port.

Workers conducted similar tests at the downstream plant in 2019, which proved highly successful.

The DO plants withdraw water from the river, mix it with oxygen and inject the water back into the river.

In particular, this mitigates the loss of dissolved oxygen for aquatic life from deepening the harbor to its new authorized depth of 47 feet.