Workers in Atlanta have completed repairing a key water main that broke and has since left numerous amounts of damage and danger for residents and small businesses in the city.
The city’s issues with its water main began on Friday when the first two of a series of water main breaks emerged along with two pipes that were nearly a century old.
The issue has since been resolved, but only after five days of work, a declared state of emergency, and damage throughout the city. Until Wednesday, Atlanta was still under a boil water advisory “out of an abundance of caution.
But on Thursday, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens joined the Big Tigger Show and shared that the advisory is now lifted.
Dickens also discussed the break and what the city is doing to recover, noting that addressing the age of some of the city’s infrastructure is crucial and that he is seeking funding to fix the issue.
“We have some pipes under there from 1920,” the mayor said. “And now we’re trying to replace those because that type of infrastructure has to be looked at over time to say, how do you have a replacement schedule? Because we need 2024 pipes 2025 pipes. Because when you got a pipe down there from the 1920s, you don’t know when it’s going to have a break like this.”
Dickens went on to share that city officials are currently inspecting other pipes to prevent any other disasters before they happen.
“You know, we have the US Army Corps of Engineers that we called in and asked them to help us,” Dickens said. “And so they are here on the ground, and they’re going to help us with a team of people, assess our whole underground infrastructure, pipes, valves, etc., and we’re going to know which ones are old, which ones need to be renovated, updated, and extended.”
Most importantly, the mayor said that the city needs to ensure that, moving forward, this infrastructure is examined every 30 to 50 years, not every 100.
When it comes to financing the project, Dickens said that he doesn’t want to increase taxes on the citizens of Atlanta, so he is exhausting every possible resource, including contacting his friends at the White House.
“We are making calls to our friends at the White House and the Biden-Harris administration saying, ‘Hey, how can you help us with some relief?’” he said.
Right now, Dickens is estimating that the total needed by the city to complete this project will be somewhere in the billions, but that it is in the best interest of the federal government to aid one of its major cities in this.
For those who sustained damage because of the incident, Dickens says to contact your insurance, but for those who lost wages or things not covered by insurance, the city is stepping up.
“We have a fund that we just put together, and these businesses can call us and make an application for us, show us the receipts, and we’ll be able to help them,” he said.
For the full interview and more, check out the Big Tigger Show on the Audacy App or wherever you get your podcasts.