Atlanta Mayor Promises Action on Buckhead Sewage Backups

ATLANTA, GA -- Mayor Kasim Reed is promising to get to the bottom -- so to speak -- of Buckhead’s sewage backups.

On Tuesday, the mayor announced his staff will meet with local neighborhood and conservancy leaders to find a solution to the problem, according to Neighbor Newspapers.

“The health and safety of Atlanta residents is this administration’s top priority,” Reed’s statement said. “We have been and continue to be focused on fixing the sewage overflows in our creeks and parks. Our approach is holistic, which can be both expensive and time-consuming, and not always clear that progress is being made underground.”

Earlier this month, residents took their complaints directly to Atlanta city hall.

Atlanta’s water chief told the homeowners that the park is in a floodplain, and that heavy rains and saturated grounds are causing sewage backups.

But City Councilman Howard Shook asked if any checkups have been performed on the sewer line, a question the water chief was unable to answer. An official in Mayor Kasim Reed’s office said his office would investigate the situation further and report back to the city council later this month.

Atlanta’s department of watershed management has been directed to speed up the $30 million Peachtree trunk stabilization capital improvement project.