Future of Georgia port expansion hinges on oxygen injectors

Army Corps must show machines help fish breathe before project can proceed

Four cone-shaped machines designed to mix oxygen into river water and inject it back into the Savannah River stand on the shore of the waterway in Savannah, Ga., Thursday. The Army Corps of Engineers is testing the machines to see if they boost the river's oxygen levels enough to help fish breathe. A court settlement requires the agency to show the machines work before it can proceed with deepening the shipping channel linking the Port of Savannah to the Atlantic Ocean. (AP Photo/Russ Bynum)

River Respirators.jpg — Four cone-shaped machines designed to mix oxygen into river water and inject it back into the Savannah River stand on the shore of the waterway in Savannah, Ga., Thursday. The Army Corps of Engineers is testing the machines to see if they boost the river's oxygen levels enough to help fish breathe. A court settlement requires the agency to show the machines work before it can proceed with deepening the shipping channel linking the Port of Savannah to the Atlantic Ocean. (AP Photo/Russ Bynum)

SAVANNAH — A loud hum drones from a twisting array of machines and pipes connected to four towering metal cones that mix water from the Savannah River with oxygen filtered from the air before pumping it all back down to the river bottom at a rate of 30,000 gallons each minute.

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