How Atlanta’s Major Vine City Rupture Has Segregationist Roots

ATLANTA — Atlanta’s recent water outage has sparked discussion about the city’s aging infrastructure and how long it would take to fix the problem.

In west and south Atlanta, water concerns are among the ongoing systemic problems, environmentalists say.

Dr. Na’Taki Osborne Jelks is an environmental justice advocate and assistant professor of environmental and health sciences at Spelman College. Over the years, she has conducted extensive research into Atlanta’s water infrastructure and cases of water injustice.

“What I immediately thought was, there he is again,” she said. “Insult to insult.”

The water crisis initially began at the intersection of Joseph E. Boone Boulevard and James P. Brawley Drive on May 31 in Vine City. It’s west of Atlanta.

Osborne Jelks says there’s a pattern in the historical impact of Atlanta’s aging water infrastructure on Black communities. She said it was intentional, dating back to the engineering of Jim Crow during the Civil War in Atlanta.

“The architects of segregation at the time decided that the way to separate the races, primarily blacks and whites in Atlanta, was through control of natural resources,” she said.

She mentions water-related issues over the years on English Avenue and Vine City, ranging from flooding issues to sewer backups.

For the West Side, the recent water main break and outage reveals the ongoing relationship between racial disparity and the city’s water infrastructure.

Infrastructure failed on May 31 when major pipes burst in Vine City in the west and then in Midtown, leaving thousands without water for days. The city admitted that the pipes were more than 80 years old.

Like Osborne Jelks, Atlanta historian King Williams says he sees the trend on the West Side, too.

“It’s just more apathy. You’ve seen this happen so many times in your life,” he said.

There have been several instances of flooding in South Atlanta over the years, including in Peoplestown, Summerhill and Mechanicsville. These are all historically black communities.

Williams believes a long-term solution will require addressing deep-rooted concerns.

“If we want to invest in Atlanta, it’s not just about building a pipeline,” he said. “It’s not just about fixing a pipe, it’s about fixing communities.”

Osborne Jelks said to truly solve this problem in the long term, the city not only needs to invest in an infrastructure overhaul, but it also needs to be looked at through an equity lens.