Although many DeKalb County residents spent a weekend recently with uncertain water service and when the taps were flowing a boil water advisory stretched into three days, many say that isn’t the bulk of the issue. Many questioned why it took so long for the county to resolve the crisis.
The problems started Thursday when a mower hit a fire hydrant in the Tucker area. The hydrant was located above a 48-inch water transmission line that began spewing thousands of gallons, leading to reduced water pressure that caused businesses throughout DeKalb to close.
Many couldn’t fathom how a problem in the northeast corner of the county could cause problems throughout the entire water system.
The county says the aging infrastructure is to blame. Regardless, residents and business owners was some assurance that a problem of this magnitude won’t happen again. Or at least there will be a plan in place to handle and to more effectively alert the public of what’s going on.
Here’s what some readers had to say:
The recent DeKalb Boil Water Advisory was so deficient as to constitute criminal negligence which is defined as “failure to use reasonable care to avoid consequences that threaten or harm the safety of the public and that are the foreseeable outcome of acting in a particular manner.”
Luckily the citizens of DeKalb dodged a bullet when the recent water outage did not result in harmful groundwater contamination of the drinking water supply.
DeKalb's failure to warn residents of this danger was unacceptable and potentially devastating. — Blair Minick
We have emailed Hank Johnson, our district representative; Ms. Sutton of DeKalb County government and Mr. Lee May, CEO of DeKalb County. Not one has returned our call.
We’ve spoken to the watershed department every day since the water main break on July 23. A truck has come out twice. They all had the same answer…let your water run. On one other occasion, they said we needed a pressure valve.
We had so much noise from our commodes, that we thought the pipes would burst.
On Friday, July 31 we called a plumbing company to come out. They said our pressure was fine. They said to run the water in the bathtub, because it was upstairs. Everyone else said to run the outdoor hose.
It is now, Sunday, Aug. 2 and the air in the pipes has almost stopped gushing.
We know to expect a huge water bill due to DeKalb's water problem, not our problem; but we'll fight to not have to pay it. Not to mention the plumbing bill. — Richard Holst
When the recent water mess was started on a Thursday, DeKalb initial statement was a contractor had hit a water line, , only by Saturday did DeKalb finally state that a mower had struck a fire hydrant. Why did the mower hit the fire hydrant? Let me tell you the facts, for months on end this corner property had been over grown with weeds and bushes five feet high or more. How could any mower operator see a fire hydrant under such conditions that DeKalb had allowed to exist for months.
The MARTA bus stop likewise at this location was covered with weeds, passengers having to stand on curb to await the bus. So based on this location of weeds and others in nearby areas, I would say that the water woes and other woes yet to be seen will still be present in DeKalb County. — Lewis Johnson
I am a lifelong DeKalb County, Georgia resident (except while I was hired gun in the United States Army). When we were young there were water wells everywhere. We did not think that DeKalb County would slide backward like it has. Accidents happen. That is one thing. But incompetence and just plain lying by the DeKalb Watershed Management Department Managers is not to be tolerated ever. If you have to have spend a lot of money to get the water back on then just do it. They were trying to backstab and blame outsiders vendors for their incompetence and lying.
In the future when they have a water main break they have only one duty. To fix it.
Lastly, they also need to hire more workers to answer the telephone switchboard. Excuses will not tolerated. In the future heads will roll if this fiasco happens again. The politicians need to tell the managers they are all fired if it happens again. — Thomas Anthony Jones Sr.
— Dionne Kinch for the AJC
Decatur’s reputation as the densest city in Georgia won’t change anytime soon.
There are currently three mixed-use developments under construction plus two smaller town home projects, all within blocks of downtown.
But two even larger mixed-use complexes get going next year, meaning that in the next four or five years 1,473 new apartments will come online along with 35 more town homes.
City Planner Amanda Thompson says basic urban planning dictates that office workers generate far more traffic than residents. She adds the city’s traffic counts have actually declined in recent years with DeKalb County moving some departments out of downtown.
Nevertheless, with five complexes including retail/restaurants opening over such a short span, traffic increases — possibly dramatic — and traffic-pattern shifts seem inescapable, though city staffers admit they aren’t quite sure what to expect. Similarly the effect on City Schools Decatur is a hard read.
The prevailing wisdom is that apartments don’t draw students (70 percent of the apartments currently under construction are one bedroom). But with Decatur housing under $500,000 becoming increasingly rare, will families drawn to the school system start seeking apartments?
We’d like to hear your ideas about this “inevitable growth and development.” Can the city limit “the profit motives of developers” and carve out much-needed land for the school system? Ultimately, how much growth can Decatur handle before reaching a saturation point?
Send comments by email to communitynews@ajc.com. Some responses will be published in next Sunday’s editions.
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