Water main break in Atlanta: US Army Corps arrives

ATLANTA — As Atlanta’s water crisis continues after a water main broke last Friday and a second over the weekend, a team from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers arrived Atlanta.

The team arrived on day five of the water crisis, which has left many Atlantans without regular access to water.

Col. Matthew McCulley of the U.S. Army Corps told 11Alive he was first contacted by Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens over the weekend, around the time he said the city ​​was in a state of emergency.

McCulley described how the Corps has had virtual conversations with the mayor’s office, but Tuesday will be the first time their entire team will meet in person. First thing to do: assess the situation.

“We’re going to look at the system, what the problems are in the system and (make) potential recommendations to the mayor’s team on what could be done in the future,” McCulley said.

In a statement released Monday evening, Mayor Dickens said he requested the Corps’ help because it has the most experience handling a crisis like this, and that “we will help develop a plan to assess our aging infrastructure.”

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The city and corps are currently investigating the viability of conducting a planning assistance study to the states to conduct a comprehensive physical and operational assessment of Atlanta’s entire water system, according to a press release from the corps.

McCulley told 11Alive that a technical engineer from the Army Corps Wastewater Treatment Center from his district in Mobile, as well as a planning engineer from his district in Savannah, would arrive to offer “technical assistance.”

“What the team is going to do is look at plans and specifications for the city’s water infrastructure as a whole and how to actually advise the way forward,” Colonel McCulley explained.

McCulley said that while the Corps won’t help solve current problems like the Midtown rupture on 11th Street, it will work to ensure that other ruptures of this magnitude don’t happen again in the future. future.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers team is expected to be in Atlanta at least until the repair work is completed, but officials said it will adjust as needed to meet the needs of the Office of the mayor.