Milena Franco, a resident of the city’s Midtown neighborhood, said she and her husband had water all weekend, but on Monday morning the water supply was cut off, Franco discovered when she tried to take a shower.
“I took a shower and just cried a little bit,” Franco said.
City officials said water supplies in the immediate neighborhood had been shut off to stop the discharge of water from a broken water main that had been pouring into the streets since Friday evening.
The geyser finally dried up around sunrise on Monday after officials brought in parts from Alabama under police escort. But much of the city remained under a to boil water before drinking it, even in areas where pressure has been restored after a first giant leak was repaired Saturday. The days-long outages have left some residents frustrated with the pace of repairs and say the city still isn’t doing a good job of providing information.
“We are completely focused on this problem and my administration knows how important water is to the lifeblood of this city,” Dickens told reporters Monday at the site where the water main broke.
However, his press conference ended before reporters could ask all their questions because local resident Rhett Scircle asked the questions that residents of surrounding buildings wanted to know.
“When will the water be back? Is there an estimated timeline? We live right here!” Scircle shouted to Al Wiggins Jr., commissioner of the watershed administration.
Wiggins, however, would not give an estimate as to when the water would flow again, even though excavators continued to dig a hole behind him.
The outage did not affect the entire city of 500,000 residents – many areas north and south of Atlanta never experienced a loss of water pressure and never had to boil the water. But for thousands of residents The problems started on Friday when a massive leak occurred at the intersection of three water mains west of downtown. Wiggins said the leak was caused by corrosion and was difficult to repair because the three pipes created a tight workspace.
The Midtown leak started hours later. Wiggins said city workers still don’t know why it happened, but it was difficult to repair because it happened at an intersection of two major water mains and the valve to shut it off was inaccessible because of the gushing liquid. The city instead dug holes a block away in four directions to cut off the flow to the Midtown leak, though Scircle and some other residents said they had little work to do for most of Saturday and Sunday.
Water pressure was restored for many people early Sunday morning, and several major events took place downtown on Sunday, including a concert and an Atlanta United soccer game.
For other residents, however, it was a rough weekend. Workers at a bar next to the Midtown leak began cleanup Monday after water broke through a pane of glass and the bar had to stay closed all weekend, costing the owner and workers money. A hotel next to the Midtown leak evacuated some guests Monday after a dry weekend.
Some office towers remained closed on Monday because water pressure was insufficient to operate air conditioning systems and distribute water to upper floors.
Dickens, a first-term Democratic mayor, was in Memphis, Tennessee, on Friday, where he was holding a political fundraiser for his 2025 re-election campaign and did not return until Saturday. Many residents have attacked the city’s response, saying officials continued to fail to communicate clearly even after Dickens apologized Saturday and promised to provide updates every two hours.
Jose Franco, Milena Franco’s husband, said he and his wife continued drinking tap water for a while on Saturday because they were unaware of the boil water suspension. Both he and his wife said the water suspension in their apartment caught them by surprise before dawn on Monday morning.
“If they know there will be no water for a few days, they should provide more free water,” said Jose Franco. And he also mentioned the problem that is obvious: the lack of flush toilets.
City officials continued to promise free bottled water at fire stations to affected residents on Monday. Dickens declared a state of emergency so the city could buy materials and hire workers without following normal purchasing laws. However, a spokesman said there was no estimate yet of how much the emergency cost the city.
Dilapidated infrastructure is a common sight in older parts of American cities. Atlanta has spent billions in recent years to upgrade its aging sewer and water infrastructure, including a five-mile tunnel designed to provide the city with more than 30 days’ worth of water. Last month, voters approved keeping a 1-cent sales tax to fund federally mandated sewer repairs. The city previously routinely dumped raw sewage into creeks and the Chattahoochee River.
Wiggins said Monday that the city’s water system is “under constant review.”