March 10, 2026
All customers can resume normal water usage!
Yesterday, customers received a notice about very low water levels in the Savannah River that temporarily limited our ability to withdraw water. Flows in this section of the river depend heavily on releases from J. Strom Thurmond Dam, which is operated by the US Army Corps of Engineers and the Stevens Creek Dam. Due to drought conditions in the upper Savannah River Basin, the Corps is currently operating under a modified release schedule. A combination of factors lowered river levels between Stevens Creek Dam and the Augusta Canal Diversion dam, where our intake is located.
We were not notified in advance of the change in the dam release schedule. Once releases resumed and river levels recovered, our system returned to normal operation around 8 pm on March 9.
We appreciate our customers' patience as we continue to monitor river conditions and coordinate with regional partners.
March 09, 2026
NEWS RELEASE
ECWSA is currently experiencing extremely low flow conditions at its raw water intake on the Savannah River, and is unable to pull in raw water for treatment. This condition is due to reduced and intermittent flow from the Lake Thurmond Dam. We did not receive any prior notification in advance of this event. We are asking customers to please conserve water as we await higher flow in the river so that we can restart our water treatment plant. Conservation means no washing cars, irrigation, laundry, or any non-essential water usage. Thank you for your patience and cooperation. We hope this situation will be rectified overnight and ECWSA will update Tuesday morning.
