Residents criticize city response as crews work on repairs

A water main that broke, leaving thousands of people without access to water around Atlanta, was repaired Saturday morning, but water may take several hours to be restored.

Officials with the Atlanta Department of Watershed Management said at a news conference that crews are now slowly pressurizing the system to bring water back to the area. Since 5 p.m. Friday, crews were working to repair breaks on a 48-inch and 36-inch transmission line below Joseph E. Boone Boulevard.

Much of Atlanta, including all of downtown, has been without water since Friday afternoon after crews began repairing breaks in the line “which carries large volumes of water to the area metropolitan area,” the DWM said. Al Wiggins Jr., DWM commissioner, was unable to say when exactly water would be restored, but said he hoped it would return to homes, businesses and hotels at least a year later. here the end of the day.

“If you are currently experiencing an interruption in water service, again, we are working as quickly as possible,” Wiggins said.

Even with this partial good news, many people in Atlanta were unhappy with what they saw as a slow response from city officials. The DWM went more than 10 hours without providing updates and a text informing residents of a boil water notice was not sent until around noon, about 22 hours after the boil water advisory was put in place. ‘notice.

It wasn’t until around 11:20 a.m., around the time the line was repaired, that Mayor Andre Dickens issued a statement on the matter. Countless residents took to social media to express their frustration at the delay in Dickens’ response. An X user shared the mayor’s brief statement, responding with “Guess who’s back.”

Tourists in downtown hotels were still required to brush their teeth with bottled water when they woke up. Residents were flushing toilets with the water they had filled their bathtubs with Friday, before widespread outages triggered by multiple broken water pipes.

Jared Winn, a resident of a historic building on Forsyth Street, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he noticed water was barely flowing from his faucet around noon Friday. By 2 p.m., he and his partner were out and heading to Acworth to stay with a family member.

“I feel bad for a lot of my neighbors who maybe can’t (leave), but yeah, luckily we were able to have a place to go for a while,” Winn said.

He described neighbors filling bathtubs with water so they could flush toilets, while others stocked up on bottled water without knowing when water would return to the area.

In Kirkwood, a neighborhood east of downtown, Jonathan Colbert was pulling a cart filled with nine large bottles of water. When he woke up and found he still had no running water, he ventured to a nearby gas station to see what bottles he could find.

“I’ve been trying to catch as much as I can because I don’t know how long it’s going to last and then with two young kids I want to make sure we have enough water,” he said. he declares.

Credit: Mirtha Donastorg

Credit: Mirtha Donastorg

In Adair Park, just south of downtown, some neighborhood council members got up early and began handing out bottled water to those affected in the area.

A geyser of water steadily erupted under Joseph E. Boone Boulevard near JP Brawley Drive for hours, pooling across the entire width of the road. Wiggins said the break was caused by rot that caused the pipe to leak.

“The age of the pipe has caused some rot and corrosion around a fitting,” Wiggins said.

Water to the line has been restored, but in order not to cause further problems or damage other lines in the system, Wiggins said the water pressure must slowly return to normal.

Employees at the Hampton Inn & Suites and Hyatt Regency downtown confirmed with the AJC that they and neighboring hotels remained without water. Sheets cannot be washed and some water-powered air conditioners no longer work. Other accommodations such as refunds, waiving certain fees and helping guests transfer to hotels outside the affected area are being implemented.

“We just give them bottles of water just so they can flush the toilet, wash their face, brush their teeth, at least do basic things,” said a front desk employee at the Hampton Inn.

Tonya Sullivan of Portsmouth, R.I., was in town for an American College Health Association conference that drew people from across the country, but her presentation and the rest of the conference were canceled Saturday. Without water, Sullivan said the Marriott Marquis turned off the air conditioning. Public toilets that were previously closed reopened Saturday morning, but were not equipped with flushers.

Dianne Kincaid of Champaign, Illinois, attended the same conference. When word of the water problems spread, she filled her hotel bathtub with water and used it to flush the toilet and wash her hair. She credits her training as a Boy Scout leader, which taught her how to prepare.

The owners of Che Butter Jonez in southwest Atlanta, Detric Fox-Quinlan and her husband Malik Rhasaan, closed their restaurant Friday around 5:30 p.m. and quickly realized they wouldn’t be able to reopen in the morning. Since the restaurant is only open Thursday through Saturday, Fox-Quinlan expects to lose more than $2,000 because of the closure. It doesn’t help that Rhasaan plans to make shrimp and grits, one of their most popular dishes that always draws crowds of customers.

“It’s a loss you wish you didn’t have to go through,” Fox-Quinlan said. “Things happen in business, I understand, but what’s happening in Atlanta?

Sarah O’Brien, owner of Little Tart Bakeshop and Big Softie, was forced to close all of her restaurants Friday afternoon and several remained closed until Saturday. Losing nearly two days of revenue “is a disaster for a small business” like O’Brien’s, she said in a statement. Little Tart Bakeshop in Summerhill and Grant Park reopened on Saturday morning.

In Little Five Points, Sevananda Natural Foods Market is taking a big financial hit due to the water outage, according to Michelle Taber, the store’s grocery manager. The market has several machines capable of filling water tanks, but they were broken.

“People come from far and wide to refill their water bottles here,” Taber said. “Our five gallons were purchased yesterday and I had a supply to last the entire weekend. Many of the extra cases of water we had were out yesterday.

Carlos Wright was at the store Saturday morning to fill his large jug of water, but came away empty-handed. The Castleberry Hill resident used the rest of his water Friday evening while trying to clean, wash dishes and flush the toilet. When he woke up this morning and found that he still had no running water, the emergency set in.

Credit: Mirtha Donastorg

Credit: Mirtha Donastorg

At Peachtree and 11th Street in Midtown, crews are working to repair another water main break. A previous break on Brawley Street has since been repaired and water is slowly returning to the affected area. These breaks were not associated with the downtown one.

Midtown resident Aaron Sentell walked a few blocks from his home to where a stream of water created a river flowing down Peachtree Street. Sentell said he still has water at home, but he uses bottled water and tries to conserve it. He’s frustrated by the city’s lack of information.

“They put out a statement, but there’s not a lot of guidance,” he said.

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

On Friday, Grady Memorial Hospital canceled appointments, offices in Atlanta and Fulton County closed, attractions like the Georgia Aquarium were closed and a Megan Thee Stallion concert was canceled at the State Farm Arena.

A spokesperson for Grady Memorial Hospital confirmed Saturday that the facility continues to experience low water pressure. Elective procedures remain canceled but the hospital is “fully operational and our emergency department is accepting all patients,” according to a statement.

The Fulton County Jail has not been without water, a spokeswoman said Saturday morning, but the sheriff’s office is complying with the city’s boil water advisory. Requests for information from the Atlanta City Detention Center and the Federal Bureau of Prisons, which operates the Federal Prison Institute in Atlanta, were not immediately returned Saturday morning.

Zoo Atlanta closed Friday, but reopened as usual at 9 a.m. Saturday. The zoo said water fountains and water refill stations will not be available, and some fountains and concessions may not be open.

“As always, Zoo Atlanta has contingency plans in place to ensure all animals have access to water,” read an online statement.

The Georgia Aquarium will remain closed Saturday, but confirmed the water outage does not affect animals.

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

— Please return to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution for updates.

Staff writers Olivia Wakim, David Wickert, Matt Kempner, Mirtha Donastorg, Kimberly Johnson and Helena Oliviero contributed to this article.