Good Government
Embracing Clean Water

By Mayor Shirley Franklin

Atlanta in 2001 was a city criticized by virtually every environmental group in the South, as well as downstream communities, because of its polluted streams and rivers. One such group, the Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, had even filed suit against the city for violations of state and federal clean water legislation.

The problem was the city’s decrepit water and wastewater infrastructure, which was no longer capable of properly collecting and treating the wastewater and stormwater that eventually was discharged back into those streams and rivers. To stave off a court battle, the city had agreed through two Consent Decrees to make system-wide improvements that would significantly decrease pollution in the streams and river.

I took office in 2002 and immediately learned the scope of the task ahead. I was determined that Atlanta not merely comply with the Consent Decrees, but actively embrace their requirements. In one of my first major acts, I created the Department of Watershed Management to pull the wastewater system and the Consent Decree work under one umbrella. The drinking water system, which had been privatized, also was brought into the new department.

The city then established the Clean Water Atlanta initiative to provide the foundation for the Consent Decree work. It was a daunting undertaking, but we were determined to make it work. And, while Atlanta is still in the early stages of a construction program scheduled to run through 2014 and is facing the possibility of water and sewer rates tripling, our efforts thus far have drawn praise from the residents and the environmental groups that once criticized the city.

In fact, Atlanta has established a friendly, mutually respectful relationship with the Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, and I consider its executive director, Sally Bethea, to be a good friend. Last year, Sally and I took a boat trip down the Chattahoochee River, and we enjoyed it so much that we are planning another similar trip.

To fix our underground infrastructure, the city established a task force of nationally renowned water and wastewater experts headed by Georgia Tech President Wayne Clough to sort through the options and recommend a course of action. That course of action, which became the Clean Water Atlanta program, includes the separation of all remaining combined sewers not directly underneath downtown, construction of Sanitary Sewer Overflow (SSO) and Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) tunnels, and a comprehensive Sewer System Evaluation Survey (SSES) and repairs/replacements identified in the SSES.

The city is also spending millions of dollars to replace aging water mains; to inspect sewer pipes and to make necessary repairs to the sewer system; and to acquire greenway parcels along streams and rivers to help reduce non-point source pollution. We also have implemented a comprehensive grease management program that includes a permitting process and an enforcement program.

People laughed when I declared myself “The Sewer Mayor.” But I believe that fixing sewers is much like putting a new roof on a house – it is absolutely critical to the health of the house, but it is not flashy, like a new kitchen or a new porch. Sewers are not as photogenic as parks and bridges. Consequently, in many cities, sewers often are overlooked.

That is not true in Atlanta, however. I am committed to the idea that clean drinking water and a functioning, environmentally sound sewer system are vital to Atlanta’s long-term development prospects. And if that is my legacy, it is one I will be proud of.