ATLANTA — Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens held a press conference on Saturday afternoon to address the major water main breaks impacting thousands of residents across the city.
Dickens apologized to residents in the city for what he described as a lack of communication to Atlantans about status checks regarding the water main breaks and the progress crews were making on repairs.
"I will be candid that overnight, we did not do the best job of communicating," he admitted. "We could've done a better job over the past day, and for that I apologize in how we have not been able to give you as much up to date information as possible."
Dickens promised that there would be updates regarding the progress of repairs every two hours until all water mains are completely fixed. That also includes updates on the social media pages of the Department of Watershed Management and the City of Atlanta.
The every-two-hour-updates will come either digitally or via press conference, Dickens said.
"We apologize profusely for this disruption to life in the City of Atlanta. We will have regular updates going forward telling exactly what's happening, what information we have," Dickens said. "We'll have regular updates about what is happening and how that might affect you."
The mayor, who toured the site where the break happened on Saturday, went on to add that the crews working on the repairs are "working tirelessly" and operating "as fast as humanly possible and as carefully as humanly possible" to ensure the repairs are finished so that people throughout the city can resume their normal lives.
Dickens also said they have experienced a few setbacks in their timeline for completion and he still does not have a definitive time for when full water service will return.
Boil water advisory for Atlanta
Meanwhile, a large portion of the city remains under a boil water advisory as crews continue to work to repair the breaks and return water service to normal.
A map of the boil water advisory zone is below.
How long will the boil water advisory last?
The boil water advisory will remain in place until the Georgia EPD clears the Department of Watershed Management to lift it following sampling and testing.
The city has set up several water distribution sites for residents impacted by the outages.
What is a boil water advisory and what should you do?
During a boil water advisory, water should be boiled for one minute past a rolling boil.
Infants, the elderly, and those with immune deficiencies should be cautious. Do not drink water from public water fountains in the impacted area.
Vigorous hand washing or showers with soap and tap water should be safe for basic personal hygiene. However, if washing hands to prepare food, use boiled (then cooled) water and handwashing soap.