Water begins to flow again in downtown Atlanta after outage that began Friday
ATLANTA– Water pressure returned after a while in downtown Atlanta and nearby neighborhoods on Sunday two days of water outage closed businesses and left the taps dry in many homes.
Much of the city remained under one to boil water before drinking it, but Mayor Andre Dickens said at a news conference late Saturday that one of the city’s two major water main breaks had been repaired.
“I know it has been a tough and frustrating day for many of you, but I am pleased to report some positive news this evening,” Dickens said.
The first-term Democratic mayor, who faces re-election in 2025, apologized again, even as residents continued to blast the city’s response. Among the critics: Megan Thee Stallion, whose Friday and Saturday night shows at downtown’s State Farm Arena were canceled.
‘Call the mayor! All day long they tell us that we can perform,” the rapper said in a video she posted on Saturday.
Arena management said they were hoping for a Sunday night show to offset the Friday night performance.
The problems started Friday morning where three major water pipes intersect just west of downtown. Commissioner Al Wiggins Jr. of the Department of Watershed Management said at a press conference on Saturday that at least some of the burst pipes were old and corroded. Because the pipes converged in a confined space, it was difficult to make repairs as only one worker at a time worked in the manhole that accessed the intersection. The repairs were completed Saturday evening, officials said.
Another water main later burst in the city’s Midtown neighborhood, which is dotted with new office, hotel and apartment towers. Wiggins said Saturday that officials were not yet sure why that pipe broke. That leak continued to flow through the city’s streets on Sunday. City officials said Saturday they were working on ways to isolate the leak from the larger water system and were waiting for a part needed to repair the pipe. Dickens declared a state of emergency so that the city could purchase materials and hire workers without following normal purchasing laws.
Faltering infrastructure is a common story in older parts of American cities. Atlanta has spent billions in recent years modernizing its aging sewer and water infrastructure, including a tunnel bored through 5 miles of deep bedrock to supply the city with more than 30 days of stored water. Last month, voters approved continuing a 1-cent sales tax to pay for federally mandated sewer improvements. The city once routinely dumped untreated sewage into creeks and the Chattahoochee River.
City workers spent much of Saturday handing out water and setting up portable toilets at several fire stations while checking on seniors living in high-rise housing.
Officials were widely criticized for being slow to inform citizens of the situation. The city and its water management department sent an update after 8 p.m. on Friday and waited more than twelve hours to inform residents again. Dickens did not address the media until 2:00 PM on Saturday, explaining that he was in Memphis, Tennessee when the problem started.
Someone in the affected area posted flyers nearby asking, “Don’t have water?” and “Help us find our mayor.”
Some attractions and businesses, including the Georgia Aquarium, which reopened Sunday, although the aquarium warned that the boil water order meant there would be no ice cream or fountain drinks in the cafeteria.