The boil-water advisory for the Northside area of Atlanta has been lifted as of 12:35 pm today. Analytical results of the water samples indicated no contamination of the drinking water.
This is the first boil-water advisory for Atlanta in 21 months.
Public outcry over United Water's nine boil water advisories in 2002 was one of factors leading to the City of Atlanta dissolving the privatization contract with United Water in 2003.
The Department of Watershed Management has taken a number of steps to minimize the likelihood of boil-water advisories, including the addition of emergency power generators at key facilities, including a $1.2 million emergency power system at the Northside Pump Station, an upgrade of the station's power and control systems and the replacement of the primary power transformers.
Maintenance of the emergency power system is outsourced to Georgia Power.
Yesterday's incident resulted from a battery failure. According to Georgia Power, the initial incident started with a tree falling on one of Georgia Power’s 115,000 volt electrical lines, resulting in electrical power loss at the Northside Pump Station. When utility power was lost from Georgia Power, the emergency generator started as designed. However, when the control system attempted to close the switchgear circuit breaker to utilize the generator power, the battery failed and the Pump Station was not able to switch over to the emergency generator power.
In addition to repairing the situation at the Nortshide Pump Station, immediate corrective actions have included the inspection of all similar units at other pump stations and the replacement of batteries. Maintenance, testing and training procedures and schedules are being reviewed with Georgia Power to minimize the potential of another incident.
Near-term projects to increase the redundancy in the system include the construction of a new 36-inch water main between the Hemphill Water Treatment Plant and the Northside Pump Station. Construction of the main will begin in 2010 and will greatly reinforce the water distribution system in the Northside area.
Long-term projects under the Clean Water Atlanta capital program that would further increase system reliability include the construction of new elevated storage tanks and modifications to the distribution pressure zones.
Department of Watershed Management Commissioner Robert Hunter stated: "We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience this incident has caused. It is when we don't have immediate access to drinking water that its true value is most obvious. We have made tremendous progress and investment in the reliability of these critical assets and are committed to our program of continuous improvement."
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