Atlanta hospital forced to relocate patients after major water main break puts city’s water supply in jeopardy

CNN

By Amanda Musa, Rebekah Riess, Ashley R. Williams and Sara Smart, CNN

(CNN) — A massive water main break that left parts of downtown Atlanta without water and under boil water advisories prompted the city’s Emory University Hospital Midtown to transfer patients to other hospitals on Saturday.

The significant disruption to water service in Georgia’s capital began Friday after breaks on a 48-inch and 36-inch transmission line “that carries large volumes of water to the metropolitan area,” according to Atlanta’s Department of Watershed Management.

Crews have worked to repair separate water main breaks that happened Friday in downtown and Midtown, and by Saturday evening, the initial water main break downtown was fixed, officials said in a post on X.

Crews were still working to repair the other major water main break located in Midtown Atlanta on Saturday. There is no exact timeline for when those repairs will be completed.

Meanwhile, dialysis patients at Emory University Hospital Midtown were transferred to other Emory hospitals for treatment, a hospital spokesperson told CNN in a statement Saturday.

The Midtown hospital’s emergency department diverted ambulances except for people with urgent heart concerns, the statement said.

“Individuals who walk-in or drive to the emergency department are still being accepted and cared for as normal,” the statement said.

The hospital said it brought in around 58,000 gallons of water in six tanker trucks to use in chillers and cooling towers. The water was supplied by a fire department and delivered by a tanker truck company.

“Bottled water is being distributed to patients throughout the hospital for drinking and personal care needs,” the statement said.

Urgent surgeries have not been affected, but most outpatient appointments, including in oncology and radiology, have been rescheduled or moved.

Boil water advisory in still effect Saturday

Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens apologized on Saturday for the city’s response to the water main break that began creating concerns Friday morning.

The issues prompted the closure of tourist attractions and the rescheduling of events including Megan Thee Stallion concerts Friday and Saturday. The incident also left many without water or with inadequate water pressure.

The Georgia Aquarium and the World of Coca-Cola, two of downtown’s biggest attractions, remained closed Saturday.

The boil water advisory remained in effect as of Saturday evening, Atlanta Watershed said in an X post.

Officials say a decaying pipe that collapsed due to water pressure was the main cause of the break downtown.

“We were actually able to repair the fitting that was leaking,” said Al Wiggins Jr., Commissioner for the Department of Public Works, during a news conference earlier on Saturday.

“We spent a significant amount of time removing pressure from the system in order for us to be able to conduct the necessary repairs,” he said.

Crews are slowly pressurizing water flow to ensure no additional damage is done to the water network.

Atlanta’s Grady Memorial Hospital on Saturday also reported low water pressure, Grady administrators said in a statement.

“However, we remain fully operational, and our emergency room is accepting all patients,” the statement reads, adding that elective procedures were canceled “to ensure patient safety.”

Water issues have impacted Atlanta before. In June 2020, a water main break on the Georgia Institute of Technology’s campus led to outages and a boil water advisory in the city.

Emory University Hospital Midtown used bottled water then. Patient care was not affected.

Atlanta’s woes are part of a larger issue of aging infrastructure throughout the United States. Here and in Canada, around 260,000 water main breaks cost $2.6 billion each year, according to a December 2023 study from Utah State University.

The study noted that the average age of failing water mains is around 53 years and that 33% of US and Canadian water mains are over 50 years old.

CNN’s Ray Sanchez contributed to this report.

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