ATLANTA — Atlanta's water crisis began over a week ago. Though the boil water advisory has been lifted, Atlantans are still coping with the impact of the water main breaks.
On Friday, 11Alive spoke one-on-one with the Atlanta mayor, Andre Dickens, about the city's plans with the Army Corps of Engineers and what he's doing to help residents and businesses.
The mayor also addressed the city's aging pipes-- some of which were nearly a century old!
City's plan with the Army Corps of Engineers
Mayor Andre Dickens said he met with the Army Corps of Engineers on Thursday to assess and develop a plan for Atlanta's water crisis.
Dickens said earlier this week that he contacted the Biden-Harris Administration and that Sen. Jon Ossoff and Sen. Rev. Raphael Warnock helped get the Army Corps of Engineers on the ground.
"For the last two days, they've been taking notes and doing assessments, and it's going to take some time for them to finalize a report, but they are working fast; I'm impressed by the conversations we've been having," Dickens said.
The mayor added that the city's Chief Strategy Officer, Peter Aman, has been working with the Army Corps around the clock.
The mayor appointed the Blue Ribbon Commission, a panel of experts with experience in water infrastructure, who will help implement solutions.
What's the timeline for the commission?
The mayor said the Blue Ribbon Commission is set to meet next week, and then they'll put together a plan to address the timeline for the city's next steps after the water main breaks.
"We're going to try to do a thorough job and making sure we do a full assessment of the city's water infrastructure, so that's going to take a little bit of time, but I'm hopeful that plans and strategy will come out in this year and hopefully this quarter so we can start working towards it," Dickens said. "I want to get it done as soon as possible so we can go to the federal government and make a legitimate ask to help this major city in the United States be able to get this water infrastructure to modern technology."
RELATED: Panel selected to help fix Atlanta's aging infrastructure following major water main breaks
What about funding?
Dickens said that once the city has a plan in place, he will seek funding from the Biden-Harris administration, the federal government and the state's partners to help after the water main breaks.
The mayor added he's going to tell them, "'Hey, here's what this is looking like. Here are the things that can take Atlanta from this state that's similar to everybody else that's a C-level infrastructure across America to an A-level infrastructure that's gonna make this city ready for all that it has in store for the future.'"
Help for residents and businesses
Dickens said while they're still developing a plan to help residents amid Atlanta's water crisis, he has allocated a $5 million fund to help small businesses.
Small businesses will soon be able to apply for those funds to help employees who may have been displaced for a few days or those who may have lost wages.
Efforts to prevent the crisis from happening again
The mayor said every year, the City of Atlanta has about 500 water main breaks. The mayor and the Blue Ribbon Commission are working on short-term and long-term plans.
"As people (have) stated across the country, these are today's faults, these are the faults of decades, but now this is my problem to try to solve for this city, and I'm committed to it. We're working hard on it. We're bringing the smartest experts that we can in the nation and those that are locally here to Atlanta so that we don't have a catastrophe so that we won't have an issue like this that will ever happen again," Dickens said.
The mayor said the next step is to identify how city officials can respond quicker to water main breaks. Dickens wants the commission to work on the following:
- How to find water valves faster.
- How to identify which water valves work and which valves do not work.
- How to map out Atlanta's water system.
"I promise you that I'm going to be standing here, answering every question; I stand here today. I come here day and night to be able to respond to the needs of the city, and we're going to get through this together," he added.