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Atlanta May Have More Funds to Fix Its Water System After City Council Vote – 95.5 WSB

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ATLANTA — The city of Atlanta has found a way to free up additional money that could be used to repair the city’s aging water infrastructure.

Council members approved reducing the reserve fund intended to service Atlanta Department of Watershed Management debts to 50 percent, giving the city an additional $177 million it could spend to repair or replace the water-related infrastructure.

The move comes just weeks after a series of major water main breaks in Atlanta left several neighborhoods and thousands of residents without water for days.

However, the ordinance approved by the Atlanta City Council was proposed before the water main crisis, having been first introduced on May 29. The next day, the water main crisis escalated into multiple water main breaks in downtown Atlanta.

The ordinance, which was approved by council members in a unanimous vote, amends the city’s master bond ordinance to reduce the Atlanta Watershed Department’s debt service payments.

In doing so, the city’s payments will drop from $106 million to $53 million, freeing up some of the budget that was sitting in the reserve fund to go to other projects.

While that doesn’t guarantee the money will be used specifically for water system repairs, officials have already estimated the entire system would need more than $1 billion to complete the overhaul.

As Channel 2 Action News previously reported, much of Atlanta’s water infrastructure – the pipes – dates back to the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s, and the decades of use are starting to become more evident.

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