The boil water advisory in effect since Friday has been lifted for many Atlanta residents affected by the water main break at Joseph E. Boone Boulevard, officials said late Monday.
Last week’s first major water main break caused water outages and low pressure for residents in a large swath of the city near downtown. Officials imposed a boil water advisory for residents in those neighborhoods from Friday afternoon until about 7 p.m. Monday.
Subsequent breaks created further outages, and city officials said residents in two other neighborhoods still need to boil water before use. Boil water advisories remain in effect in the areas around the East Atlanta neighborhood and, in Midtown, in the area of West Peachtree and 11th streets, according to a city statement.
For many Atlanta residents, the progress will come as a huge relief.
Just after dawn on the fourth day of Atlanta’s ongoing water crisis, a man on a scooter stopped short of the cadre of journalists and photographers gathered around a worksite at a gushing water main in Midtown.
“Is this still going on?” he asked, shaking his head in disbelief before making a quick U-turn to find a detour.
For many in Atlanta, boiling anger at the persistent water outages and a perceived lack of communication from the city has reduced to a simmer as the crisis has dragged on. Residents and business owners have seemed shell-shocked as problems continue to erupt even as repairs are completed.
Since Friday’s massive breach on Joseph E. Boone Boulevard, Atlanta’s Department of Watershed Management has played whack-a-mole with additional breaks around the city. A second gigantic, 36-inch water main broke later Friday near the intersection of West Peachtree and 11th streets in Midtown. It gushed for much of the weekend until the water was completely shut off in the area. The department continued to announce more broken pipes in the system through Monday afternoon.
Officials have not provided a timetable for when the system might return to normal.
Jazmen Dean, who lives in an apartment along West Peachtree, said her friends came over in droves this weekend to use her shower, since she had not been impacted by the water outages.
That situation reversed Monday and she found herself heading to her friends’ place to use their bathroom after a pilates class. Prior to moving from Washington D.C. in February, Dean said she had never experienced any water issues. The engineer was annoyed at the lack of an action plan and clarity from city leaders.
“It’s a damper on the city, especially for this to be in Midtown,” she told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “The biggest thing we want is just an explanation.”
The city’s water emergency began Friday with a break at a crucial junction point under Joseph E. Boone Boulevard near J.P. Brawley Drive, where 48-inch and 36-inch transmission lines ruptured. Those steel pipes were more than 80 years old, according to DWM Commissioner Al Wiggins Jr.
Repairs on such a large, centrally located water line are difficult, multi-step processes, and each step takes hours to complete. Watershed crews faced a major setback when their initial repairs to that critical junction point did not work, forcing them to restart the process.
While other, smaller breaks were reported throughout the day Friday, the weekend brought a second serious setback for the watershed department when the pipe burst in Midtown. The broken main on West Peachtree posed a different type of challenge because the water shut-off valve was directly underneath the geyser seen at street level, city officials said.
Watershed officials made the call to let the break flow through the day Saturday to minimize service interruptions in the area. The water was finally turned off around 4 a.m. Sunday, the watershed department announced, and remained shut off through Monday afternoon.
Over the course of the weekend, water main breaks were found and repaired at 4370 Minkslide Drive, 1190 Atlantic Drive and the intersection of Euclid and North avenues in northeast Atlanta, per the watershed department. Monday brought more of the same as department officials announced they were investigating multiple new locations. In northeast Atlanta, crews investigated a potential break near Clayton Road and Armour Drive. Other interruptions were confirmed on Fairlock Lane, where crews shut off an 8-inch pipe supplying water to 20 homes and one fire hydrant, and 472 Gartrell Street, where four homes, three hydrants and an apartment complex lost water.
According to the watershed department’s outage map, the Fairlock Lane water main had been repaired a little before 10 p.m. Monday.
Also Monday afternoon, DeKalb County announced a water main break of its own near the affected area in Atlanta. However, the six-inch main was repaired in a matter of hours. Officials said it was caused by an uprooted tree and was unrelated to Atlanta’s water woes.
Steamhouse Lounge, a seafood restaurant and popular Midtown watering hole located across the street from the West Peachtree worksite, was forced to remain closed Monday, owner Sam Weyman said. He has not had any luck reaching police or city officials about the situation, he said.
“Nothing was happening (Sunday), nothing, zero, nothing, nothing,” Weyman said Monday morning before heading to where the work was being done.
City officials have been heavily criticized by residents and businesspeople for the inconsistency and slow pace of communication about this emergency for Atlanta’s essential infrastructure.
After hours of little to no communication early on from city officials Friday and early Saturday, Mayor Andre Dickens spoke late Monday morning at a news conference along West Peachtree as crews worked behind him. But the mayor did not take any questions and was ushered away after a resident asked for a timetable for repairs.
Dickens has faced criticism for not making his first public appearance until Saturday afternoon, about 24 hours after many city residents started facing reduced water pressure or no service at all. The mayor declared a state of emergency to free up resources for repairs over the weekend and the city activated a joint operations center, improving the regularity of communications.
On Monday evening, Dickens confirmed that the city requested and would soon receive assistance from the Army Corps of Engineers.
“We have sought their assistance because they have the most experience in handling a crisis like this,” Dickens said in a statement. “They will help us develop a plan to assess and evaluate our aging infrastructure.”
Despite all the frustration, the watershed department’s repairs have provided some relief as many residents and businesses showed adaptability and resilience.
Emory University Hospital Midtown and Grady Memorial Hospital announced Monday that things were back to normal as did Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. Megan Thee Stallion was able to take the stage Sunday at State Farm Arena after Friday and Saturday night shows had to be canceled, and Atlanta United’s soccer match against Charlotte went on as planned at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Sunday, albeit with limited food and beverage options.
West End Soul Kitchen owner Martin Mendes said his business was returning to normal and serving up the specialties he has made for the past four years. When water service stopped Friday and Saturday, he switched to a limited menu.
“This community is on the lower (economic) end of things, people are struggling just to get by,” Mendes said. “It put people here in a bad situation.”
Credit: John Spink
Credit: John Spink
— AJC staff writers Zachary Hansen and Riley Bunch contributed to this article.
