Emergency water advisory

David Cockrell, City Manager of Atlanta, has sent out a number of press releases over the last three days alerting the community of a boil advisory. In the early hours of Feb. 19 the water system went down. For some, the water came back on later that day. The city has been trying to resolve it since then, with area residents saying “as of the 20th they had been without water for about five days”, though it is unclear if their water was managed by the city or not. On Feb. 21 the water was again off but came back online quickly.

According to a press release sent out on Feb. 21, Cockrell says that “the City of Atlanta is experiencing a water emergency due to the unprecedented winter storm. City main and service line breaks drained our system. The City has been under a boil advisory since Feb. 19th.”

“Our service provider, Texarkana Water Utilities, cannot supply emergency volumes from the Graphics Packaging mill. They are working to identify and correct the problem, but we cannot give a time frame when that will happen,” says Cockrell.

In a Feb. 21 update, Cockrell went on to say “many of our customers are receiving water but at lower-than-normal pressure. Other customers, at higher elevations, are receiving very small amounts at no pressure. We are asking for the public’s cooperation at conservation. We are asking high volume commercial users to discontinue operations.”

On Feb. 22, Cockrell issued a new update letting the city know that “the City of Atlanta was able to bring the water system back online in a limited capacity. Residents have some water, but pressures vary depending on customer elevation. The City would like to emphasize “we are not back to normal operations. As we pressurize the system there are new leaks, so sporadic pressures may continue.”

Editor’s Note: Because of the nature of the situation updates will be made regularly. Please check out our website, CassCountyNow.com, and our social media pages for updates.