Monday, September 14
DWM and Community United for Infrastructure
City of Atlanta and DWM leadership worked to creatively secure financing for infrastructure upgrades as ordered by the EPA without raising rates for customers. The MOST (Municipal Option Sales Tax) allows for the collection of 1-cent from generally all retail sales of goods purchased and taxable services performed within the City of Atlanta. The MOST allows businesspeople and visitors who use the City’s water and sewer infrastructure (but do not pay City water and sewer bills) to help pay for upgrading and maintaining the system. The MOST ballot reauthorization has been overwhelmingly approved by Atlanta voters from 2004-2020.

• DYK: Nationally, in 2018, voters approved 77 percent of all state and local infrastructure ballot measures, continuing a long trend of support for infrastructure investments.
• Social Media Platforms: Share their daily content @United4Infra
• #RebuildBetter

Tuesday, September 15
Quality Infrastructure Services Delivered Amid Critical Customer Care Needs
Infrastructure services like water and sewer, electricity and gas, transportation, telephone, and broadband are essential to everyday life, but they are not always affordable to households. The economic impacts of COVID-19 have only exacerbated affordability challenges and created an additional barrier to economic opportunity. While 32 states have enacted emergency orders to bar utility shutoffs, many are set to expire soon, leaving millions of American households in dire circumstances.

• Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms reissued Administrative and Executive Orders to assist Atlanta residents and businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, to be executed for an additional sixty days through October 31, 2020. Administrative Order 2020-39 directs the Department of Watershed Management (DWM) to refrain from taking any action which would result in the termination of water services to any DWM customer due to non-payment through October 31, 2020.
• DYK: DWM has a Care and Conserve Program that is designed to offer financial assistance to ratepayers who are having difficulty paying their water and sewer bills. Assistance can only be granted once within a two-year period, and eligibility is determined primarily by income and household size. For more information on the Care & Conserve program, call 404-546-3620.
• #RebuildBetter

Wednesday, September 16
DWM Celebrates Our Infrastructure Heroes (In conjunction with DWM Anniversary)
More than 17 million American’s infrastructure heroes have shown incredible courage and dedication to our communities through the global pandemic. They’ve kept water flowing to our homes, our supply chains moving, transported other essential workers to their jobs on busses, trains, and along highway. Thank you to the hundreds of DWM crew members who continue to report to work day-in and day-out to deliver quality water service.

Thursday, September 17
DWM Stands Committed and United for Infrastructure

• DYK: DWM is investing nearly $1.26 billion in water and sewer infrastructure upgrades under the Capital Improvement Program (Graphic Attached)
• Major CWA Projects? Show workers on these projects
• DYK: For every $1 invested in infrastructure it generates $3.70 in economic growth
• Encourage community stakeholders (elected officials) to join a virtual conversation highlighting capital projects and critical water projects that other cities will construct over the next few years.
• www.pgh2o.com/news-events/events-meetings/2020-09-17-united-infrastructure-panel-discussion
• #RebuildBetter

Friday, September 18
Watershed Management Building a Better Future by Building Better Infrastructure

Infrastructure needs aren’t stopping, and neither is DWM. #RebuildBetter means building resilient infrastructure that can help communities thrive even as a changing climate presents challenges of flooding from heavy rain events, severe storms, wildfires, and more pressures on fragile infrastructure systems like widespread emergencies.

• Water Supply Program
  The Water Supply Program will increase Atlanta’s reserve water supply from three to five days to 30 to 90 days. The $320 million investment includes the construction of a five-mile tunnel connecting the Chattahoochee River, the Hemphill Water Treatment Plant, and the former Bellwood Quarry, which will be transformed into a 2.4-billion-gallon reservoir.
• Upper Proctor Creek Capacity Relief Project Rodney Cook Sr. Park In Historic Vine City
  The Upper Proctor Creek Capacity Relief project: Rodney Cook, Sr. Park in Historic Vine City is a multi-phase effort to reduce flooding and combined sewer flows in the Vine City neighborhood. This project consists of a collection of innovative stormwater practices designed to redirect surface runoff away from the Beckwith Trunk and Mineral Springs combined sewer systems. (With Photo)
• DYK: Currently, the City of Atlanta has only a three-day water supply. Once this $320 million project is complete, we’ll have a minimum of 30 days, ensuring that our residents and businesses have access to clean, safe drinking water for the next 100 years.
• #RebuildBetter

Saturday, September 19
Infrastructure that support a Growing City
DYK: DWM Graphic (miles of pipes)

Monday, September 21
Infrastructure Protection is a Community Affair

• The Adopt-A-Drain program empowers residents and organizations to become environmental stewards of their neighborhood by agreeing to oversee and maintain our storm drains. For more information on how to sign up, visit: https://www.atlantawatershed.org/adoptadrain/