DeKalb County water customers seeking help with their bills are finally getting their calls answered.
Average call wait times have dropped from 20 minutes to 56 seconds since the county added 35 additional staff members to its customer service center at the end of October, according to the county.
In addition, the rate of "abandoned" calls -- those calls that end before a conversation occurs -- has declined from 20 percent to 1 percent.
The county is also nearing the completion of its investigations of higher-than-average water bills.
About 5,640 customers whose water bills were audited in October should expect to receive a response about the results of the investigation within the next week.
DeKalb has opened 60 satellite water and sewer payment locations at Kroger, Citgo and Wal-Mart stores around the county.
