Major water main break in Atlanta causes city's water supply to be at risk, leading to relocation of patients from a local hospital.
Starting from Friday, a disruption to the water supply occurred in Georgia's capital. This happened due to damage on a 48-inch and a 36-inch pipe that's responsible for transporting large amounts of water to the metropolitan area, as reported by Atlanta's Department of Watershed Management.
Crews have fixed separate water main breaks in downtown and midtown areas over the weekend, but there was a delay in the repair timeline because of some complications. Mayor Andre Dickens informed the public about this during a press conference on Saturday.
In light of the water crisis, Emory University Hospital Midtown shifted its dialysis patients to other Emory hospitals for their treatment. The hospital's emergency department started diverting ambulances, except for those dealing with serious heart-related emergencies.
"Individuals who walk-in or drive to the emergency department are still being accepted and cared for as normal," said a statement from the hospital.
The hospital managed to bring in roughly 58,000 gallons of water in six tanker trucks which would be used for chiller and cooling towers. The water was supplied by a fire department and transported by a tanker truck company.
"Bottled water is being distributed to patients throughout the hospital for drinking and personal care needs," the hospital's statement added.
The hospital ensured that urgent surgeries were not affected, but for most outpatient appointments, including those in oncology and radiology, were either rescheduled or moved.
The city's Mayor, Andre Dickens, apologized for the handling of the water main break that originally occurred on Friday morning.
The incident not only shut down tourist sites and postponed events like concerts featuring Megan Thee Stallion but also left several individuals without water or with insufficient water pressure.
The Georgia Aquarium and the World of Coca-Cola, both major tourist attractions in downtown, were still closed as of Saturday.
As of Saturday, Dickens couldn't provide a timeline for completing the repairs.
During a press conference on Saturday, Al Wiggins Jr., Commissioner for the Department of Public Works, said that the primary reason for the disruption was a deteriorating pipe which collapsed due to water pressure. He also mentioned that teams had successfully mended the part that was leaking but were taking precautions to avoid further damage to the water system by slowly re-pressurizing the water flow.
Additionally, Atlanta's Grady Memorial Hospital reported low water pressure on Saturday, even as its statement asserted that the hospital "remains fully operational and our emergency room is accepting all patients." However, due to the circumstances, elective procedures were canceled "to ensure patient safety."
History shows the city has experienced water issues before. In June 2020, a water main break on the Georgia Institute of Technology's campus resulted in outages and caused a boil water advisory. This time, Emory University Hospital Midtown used bottled water instead. Patient care was unaffected.
Atlanta's current predicament is part of a bigger problem: aging infrastructure in the United States and Canada. A study conducted in December 2023 by Utah State University showed that around 260,000 water main breaks cost $2.6 billion per year and the average age of failing water mains is approximately 53 years, with 33% of U.S. and Canadian water mains being over 50 years old.
CNN’s Ray Sanchez contributed to this report.
Read also:
On Friday, the city of Atlanta announced that residents might experience temporary water disruptions due to repairs on the damaged main pipes. Since the incident involving the major water main break, our community has relied heavily on the assistance of local facilities and resources.
