In the midst of legal and financial fallout of the company's largest water main break in recent history last fall, another Tennessee American Water Co. line broke Friday morning, leaving customers in the Stringer's Ridge area with little or no water.
According to the water company, an unrelated contractor hit a water pipe on the 1100 block of Ashmore Avenue late Friday morning, causing outages or low pressure for many customers in the Stringer's Ridge, Whitehall and Pineville Road areas as crews worked to repair the pipe.
While the company provided no details on how many customers were affected, spokeswoman Daphne Kirksey said the repairs were completed around 7 p.m. Friday.
"Repair is complete and water is being restored. We are flushing the main, which means we run hydrants to clear air or discoloration," Kirksey said in an email. "If customers experience air or discoloration, they should run a cold tap until it runs clear, which should take only a few minutes. We recommend a faucet with strong flow like a bathtub."
The break, though much smaller in scale, comes less than four months after the largest outage in the company's history, which left some 35,000 Chattanooga connections without water for up to 72 hours in September, due in part to a lack of redundancy in the private company's infrastructure.
"Tennessee American Water is committed to providing customers safe, clean water service for health, comfort and fire protection," Kirksey wrote in response to questions about the September outage. "As such, in 2020 we have planned $29 million in projects for the benefit of today's customers and future generations. Examples include replacement of aging pipes, installation of a new basin at our water treatment plant that will allow Tennessee American Water to clean water more efficiently, and projects that continue to build resiliency and support economic development."
Still few details
While Tennessee American workers were doing a planned maintenance project just yards away from the site of the break in the company's largest water main when the leak occurred, the company still has not provided any details on the cause of the line break.
"To provide an update on the main break that occurred on September 12, 2019, we engaged an independent engineering firm to assist with the evaluation of what occurred. The review is ongoing," Kirksey wrote in an email Thursday. "While we are committed to sharing information with the community, we note that a lawsuit has been filed against Tennessee American Water asserting claims related to the main break. This may impact our ability to comment on issues while we are simultaneously involved in this litigation."
Staff photo by C.B. Schmelter / Workers are seen as water floods by a tank on the Tennessee River on Friday, Sept. 13, 2019 in Chattanooga, Tenn. Tennessee American Water is working to repair a water main break that happened Thursday evening near its plant on Wiehl Street.The litigation referenced by Kirksey is a class-action lawsuit the Davis & Hoss law firm filed on behalf of local residents and businesses days after the September line break. It asks for compensation of any wage losses, business or economic losses as a result of the water company's "conduct, acts, or omissions."
As Tennessee American and the plaintiffs of the lawsuit seek closure after September's outage, the city of Chattanooga is grappling with identifying the financial impact of the event as well as how to make up its losses.
While city officials are "still reviewing and analyzing expenses and losses associated with the September water outage event," as of Friday, according to Chief Operations Officer Maura Sullivan, Mayor Andy Berke said in September that the city will hold the water company accountable for its role in the break.
"I was in contact with the Tennessee American Water president and staff constantly throughout the outage incident, and met with their leadership [in September]. I made it exceedingly clear that I had serious concerns over compensation issues that customers - including the city of Chattanooga - faced due to this outage, and I reiterated that their communications with the public throughout this period have been inadequate," Berke said after the historic outage. "Tennessee American Water knows I'm holding them accountable for what happened in our city - Simply put, we need to know what happened, why it happened, and what they're doing to make sure it does not happen again. That information will guide any actions taken by my administration moving forward."
Contact Sarah Grace Taylor at staylor@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6416. Follow her on Twitter @sarahgtaylor.