Savannah Valley District

Be Well Informed

Charley Greenthaler, Area Water Resources Agent – Calhoun and Orangeburg Counties Be Well Informed Do you rely on a private well for your drinking water source? With more than 20% of South Carolinians falling into this category, these wells must be properly maintained to ensure safe drinking water.  Maintenance of the well is the responsibility […]

Spring Start-Up: Check the Pivot!

Becky Davis, Savannah Valley Water Resources Agent As plans for the upcoming growing season move into equipment maintenance, be sure to include the irrigation systems! The first step is to assess the electrical safety. Before touching any part of the system or even limbs that have fallen on the structure, be sure that it has […]

Soil Sampling: A Simple Way to Prepare Your Garden for Spring

Ellen Sturup Comeau, Water Resources Agent February is here, and we are starting to see signs of spring! Amidst the cold and rain, we’ve had a few days of warmer, sunny weather, with many of us all dreaming about growing gardens. Luckily, it’s an excellent time of year to start preparing for early April’s planting […]

Winter is Coming! Insulate Your Water Pipes!

Becky Davis, Savannah Valley Water Resources Agent Despite the recent unseasonal warm weather, it will get colder! Although only the most northern counties of South Carolina have monthly average temperatures below freezing. It only takes a few hours of temperatures below 25 degrees to cause pipes to freeze! So, now is the time to prepare! […]

Help Keep Communities Healthy with Proper Pond Maintenance

Ellen Sturup Comeau Water Resources Agent Beaufort County “A planted shoreline along a stormwater pond. Photo Credit: Guinn Wallover” With autumn’s cooler temperatures now fully here, we can enjoy the last blooms of our Lowcountry landscapes before they become dormant for the winter. While we may be sad to see the purple of sweet grass […]

Keeping Water Clean with Vegetated Buffers

Ellen Sturup Comeau, Water Resources Agent An Eroding Shoreline: Photo by Guinn Wallover With the summer’s heat, people all over Beaufort County flock to the County’s beautiful ponds, rivers, marshes, and beaches. This exciting waterfront lifestyle keeps the Beaufort County Water Resources Agent busy with site visits. While the specifics of the questions vary from […]

Irrigation – Never Too Late To Calibrate!

Becky Davis, Water Resources Agent- Savannah District Introduction – August in South Carolina may conjure up the start of school and football season, but there still may be hot, dry days in which your plants require additional water to yield the optimal benefits. Irrigation seems simple! Water plants the right amount at the right time. […]

Protecting Water with South Carolina Adopt-a-Stream

  Ellen Sturup Comeau, Water Resources Agent The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) co-leads the program with Clemson’s Center for Watershed Excellence. SC AAS volunteers sample local waterways monthly and collect vital physical, chemical, and biological data that complement local and state data. This data is made publicly accessible on the […]

We’re All Upstream

Photo credit: Katie Anne Callahan, Clemson

Becky Davis, Savannah Valley Water Resources Agent Spring is just around the corner and pond owners may find that weeds are already starting to emerge. If not managed early they can become a bigger problem as the temperatures rise. One question that an owner may have is, “why do the weeds keep coming back year […]

SC Adopt-a-Stream

Charly McConnell Greehthaler- Water Resource Agent As our fall temperatures decrease, making time outside more pleasant, take advantage of this time and get outdoors! One program that aims at doing just that is the SC Adopt-a-Stream (SC AAS) program. This citizen science program is a joint effort between SC DHEC and Clemson University, training volunteers […]