Ogeechee Riverkeeper, Georgia Southern graduate student team up for study on river

OGEECHEE RIVER, Ga. (WTOC) - A researcher from Georgia Southern will team with Ogeechee Riverkeeper to measure the environment in and along the part of the river in our community.

She’ll test two particular spots along the river.

This research comes as one company will be closing their plant along the river in Screven County, and another company begins to build their plant along the river in Bryan County.

The river touches 15 counties as it flows to the Georgia coast. Georgia Southern University graduate student Molly McKeon will study our local part of it through a fellowship with the Ogeechee Riverkeeper.

The study will compare the water near the soon-to-be closed Milliken plant and water near the planned Hyundai electric vehicle plant near Black Creek.

“Those two points seem to make a great area that we should be studying as we watch the closure of one and the construction of another,” said McKeon.

The upper portion of the river saw plenty of study more than a decade ago when thousands of fish died in water downstream from the plant in Screven County under different ownership.

This research will document the state of this part of the river now but also the state of the river downstream before any possible industrial impact.

“I believe it’s important for this to be brought to attention so we can remember what happened in the past and it’s not cyclical and doesn’t repeat itself.”

They’ll begin their research in January.

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