Atlanta mayor declares state of emergency following water main break, hospital that transported patients returns to normal operations

Atlanta’s mayor declared a state of emergency following a massive water main break that left parts of downtown without water and prompted a major hospital to transfer patients elsewhere.

THE significant disruption serving water in Georgia’s capital is the latest dramatic example of how aging infrastructure across the United States has impacted power grids, bridges and roads, dams and other vital systems , embarrassing or endangering millions of Americans.

Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens declared a state of emergency Saturday just hours after crews repaired one of two major water main breaks in the city’s downtown area. The other, in Midtown, is still under overhaul with no estimate of when it will be repaired.

Repair crews have made “significant progress in locating repairs” as they continue to repair the broken water main at the intersection of West Peachtree Street and 11th Street in Midtown, the Department of Defense said Sunday. Atlanta Department of Watershed Management.

Video from CNN affiliate WANF showed water gushing from a pipe onto a blocked portion of West Peachtree Street as crews worked to fix it.

Atlanta Watershed reported another possible water main break in the city earlier Sunday and announced that emergency repairs on a 6-inch water main near the Candler Park neighborhood were completed Sunday afternoon . Water service was restored to 35 neighboring homes and four fire hydrants, the municipal agency said.

The problems began Friday after breaks on a 48- and 36-inch transmission line “that carries large volumes of water to the metro area,” according to Atlanta Watershed.

The water main break left parts of downtown Atlanta without water and with boil water notices, closing tourist attractions and forcing events to be postponed.

With repairs to the downtown water main break completed, crews fully restored water service to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the Fulton County Jail, the Atlanta City Detention Center and other facilities, the city agency said.

The city distributed water to two fire stations on Sunday, limiting cases to one per resident due to ongoing water issues. “We are currently working on getting more water to all stations,” the city of Atlanta said in an article on X.

Meanwhile, Emory University Hospital in Midtown and its ambulances resumed normal operations Sunday after the hospital experienced water pressure issues due to water main breaks Saturday, according to Janet Christenbury, director relations with the media.

The disruptions prompted the hospital on Saturday to transfer dialysis patients to other hospitals and divert ambulances from its emergency department, except for people with urgent heart problems, a spokesperson for the hospital said. hospital to CNN in a statement.

“Tomorrow, we will operate on a regular schedule for outpatient physician appointments, procedures and surgeries,” Christenbury said in a statement.

The hospital said it transported about 58,000 gallons of water in six tanker trucks Saturday for use in chillers and cooling towers and distributed bottled water to patients for drinking and personal care.

“We will continue to provide bottled water to patients, visitors and staff while the hospital remains under a boil water advisory, like most affected areas in Atlanta,” Christenbury said .

Emergency surgeries were not affected Saturday, the hospital said.

Boil water advisory still in effect

Dickens apologized Saturday for the city’s response to the water main break that began causing concern Friday morning.

“I know this has been a difficult and frustrating day for many of you,” Dickens said. “We all take this issue very seriously.”

These issues have led to the closure of tourist attractions and the rescheduling of events, including Megan Thee Stallion concerts on Friday and Saturday. The incident also left many people without water or with inadequate water pressure.

The Georgia Aquarium and World of Coca-Cola, two of downtown’s biggest attractions, remained closed Saturday.

Atlanta United, the city’s soccer team, said it plans to play its match against Charlotte FC on Sunday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, but food and drink options will be limited due to the advisory to boil the city’s water, which remains in effect.

“We ask that all fans use hand sanitizing stations around the stadium as an added precaution for health and safety,” the team said in a statement on X.

Authorities say a rotting pipe that collapsed due to water pressure was the main cause of the downtown rupture.

“We were able to repair the leaking fitting,” Department of Public Works Commissioner Al Wiggins Jr. said at a news conference Saturday.

“We spent a lot of time getting the pressure out of the system so we could make the necessary repairs,” he said.

Crews are slowly pressurizing the water flow to ensure no additional damage is caused to the water system.

Atlanta’s Grady Memorial Hospital, which reported low water pressure Saturday, is expected to resume normal operations Monday after water service was restored and water pressure “increased significantly,” Grady’s administration announced Sunday.

The hospital, which said it remained fully operational on Saturday, said it would also continue to provide bottled water to patients and staff on Sunday, despite the ongoing boil water advisory.

Water issues have already impacted Atlanta. In June 2020, a water main break on the Georgia Institute of Technology campus led to outages and a boil water advisory in the city.

Emory University Hospital in Midtown was using bottled water at the time. Patient care was not affected.

Atlanta’s woes are part of a larger problem of aging infrastructure across the United States. Here and in Canada, about 260,000 water main breaks cost $2.6 billion each year, according to a December 2023 study by Utah State University.

The study found that the average age of failed water pipes is approximately 53 years, and 33 percent of water pipes in the United States and Canada are over 50 years old.

CNN’s Ray Sanchez and Rafael Romo contributed to this report.

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