SOUTH FULTON, Ga. — Homeowners in a South Fulton community say repeated water line breaks and delayed repairs by the City of Atlanta Department of Watershed Management have left behind damaged sidewalks and growing frustration.
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Residents in the Legacy at Palmetto Farms subdivision say some leaks have flowed for months before crews stopped the water. They also say that after repairing underground lines, workers often leave behind broken concrete and temporary patches that take weeks or longer to fix.
“You can see this has rushed all the way down to here, and it was continually running down this little slope,” said Nikki Cooper, the community’s HOA president, describing a recent break that sent water streaming down a sidewalk and into the street.
Cooper said the neighborhood has dealt with several water line breaks over the years, despite being less than 20 years old. The most recent break, located along Absinth Drive, ran for more than three months, she said.
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“In most cases, they’ve also had to destroy the sidewalk or whatever cement covers the water holes to complete the repairs,” Cooper said. “But they never came back to complete the sidewalk repairs.”
Residents say the delays cause erosion around sidewalks and create potential safety hazards for pedestrians.
Cooper said response times from watershed crews can stretch for weeks. She said a crew arrived to address the latest issue only after a reporter contacted the department for comment.
“We’re paying our water bill the same as everyone else,” Cooper said. “So we just don’t understand why it takes months to resolve a water leak.”
Channel 2 Action News reached out to the Atlanta Department of Watershed Management for comment, but has not received a response.
Homeowners say they are now questioning the reliability of the area’s water infrastructure and want answers about why relatively newer water lines continue to fail.
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