Savannah River is a waterway that forms a large part of the border between Georgia and South Carolina. Several small streams unite to form the main stream. They rise near the southern boundary of North Carolina and join on the boundary of Georgia and South Carolina, southwest of Anderson, South Carolina. The Savannah then flows southeast and empties into the Atlantic Ocean at Tybee Roads. The Savannah River is 341 miles (549 kilometers) long. A channel 18 miles (29 kilometers) long and 42 feet (13 meters) deep leads from the ocean to the city of Savannah. Large ships can use this channel. Smaller ships can safely travel 230 miles (370 kilometers) up the river, as far as Augusta, Georgia.
The J. Strom Thurmond Dam above Augusta forms a reservoir 38 miles (61 kilometers) long. This dam supplies power to the Savannah River Site, a nuclear materials processing center in South Carolina.
