ATLANTA — Imagine getting home, turning on the faucet, and no water comes out. Families in Southwest Atlanta said they’ve been without water for at least four days, despite paying their bills.
Jasmine Taylor said she realized she did not have water when she got to her Cascade Parc subdivision home on Friday.
"Checked with neighbors, some had water, some didn't," she said. "They dug up everything and we had no notice."
She got her water restored Tuesday after 11Alive started digging for answers, but spent the whole weekend water-less.
"This weekend hasn’t been good. My saving grace is that my best friend lives in the neighborhood," she said. "So I’ve been over there and for the most part have kept my dog on daycare."
The families affected rent their homes and pay their utilities to a third party.
Taylor said as a tenant, she always pays her bill on-time to the Progress Residential property management company, which is then supposed to forward the money to the neighborhood’s Homeowners Association, CMA, for water that month.
She said she paid, but Progress Residential, which owns her house, did not.
“I’m not behind on rent or anything like that but I don’t have water," she said. "It is a mess."
In an email exchange, the HOA's manager told Taylor there was a $500 balance on her water bill alone, and that since the management company had not paid, the HOA turned the water off.
“Progress Residential doesn’t suffer, the HOA doesn’t suffer, I’m the one who is suffering but I have not done anything wrong. It’s just not fair," she added.
The HOA manager ended by writing, "I do it all the time."
“They knew we would be without water for the entire weekend," she said. "We have families, there are babies without water. This is still during a pandemic, we can’t wash our hands.”
In a statement, Progress Residential told 11Alive:
"Our residents are our top priority, and when we learned about this situation, we worked quickly to partner with the impacted residents, the HOA and their third party utility billing service to understand the issue and ensure service was returned right away. We are further reviewing processes with the HOA to ensure all parties are aligned going forward."
But Taylor said it was not quick, or easy. She also said this happened when she moved in back in October.
“Very reminiscent of when this last happened because there's not one contact. There's not one person I can call. No one is telling me anything, no one is talking to me," she said. "It's a headache."
Taylor hopes this is solved, as she said this is the second time this has happened in the last year. She said she works from home and has fibromyalgia.
“I don’t have water at work, I don’t have water at home, I have to try and figure out the logistics for both. I put the blame on Progress Residential because ultimately they're the landlord and they're liable to pay the water bill. I put the blame on the HOA for not giving any notice at all and for doing it on a Friday."
11Alive did reach out to the HOA to ask why it did this without notifying residents and as of Tuesday afternoon we had not heard back.
Taylor is grateful, but weary it could happen again.
"I was very frustrated because as a tenant, I wasn’t given the opportunity to pay the bill myself, I wasn’t given the opportunity to make any accommodations and go get water bottles or set up where I could stay with a friend," she said.
