Mayor Berke wants answers about the 2019 water main break

September 14, 2020

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF)- A year ago, thousands of Chattanoogans were without water after a major water main break happened downtown.

Tennessee American Water has not offered an update on what caused the break and Saturday, Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke took his frustrations to twitter.

Tennessee American Water owes us an explanation of the causes of the main break and why the report has not been released. As a public utility, nothing less will do.

— Andy Berke (@AndyBerke) September 12, 2020

Over the last year, Tennessee American Water has repeatedly told me and their ratepayers that they would share its analysis of last year’s water main break. As recently as August 18th, I met with leadership, who assured me that the report was forthcoming.

— Andy Berke (@AndyBerke) September 12, 2020

On Monday Mayor Berke says, “They have told us repeatedly over the last year that they were going to provide that and now that we have gotten to the end of this year they are saying they are not going to do it. I do not understand why they are not doing it. They are a public utility. People don’t have a choice as to whether they are going to get water from them. They owe us an explanation so we can hold them accountable and to make sure we understand what happened.”

We have reached out to Tennessee American Water for a statement on the issue. Here is the company’s statement “In September 2019, Tennessee American experienced a service interruption during the final phase of its planned Citico Plant By-Pass Improvement Project. The project was completed at that time and substantially strengthens resiliency and mitigates the risk of a future, similar service interruption. Litigation was filed almost immediately. On September 9, 2020, the court held a hearing on pending motions to dismiss which will resume at a later date. As Tennessee American continues to defend itself against the litigation, we thought it important to inform you that we will not provide the ongoing evaluation of the service interruption when completed. Tennessee American Water will continue to evaluate decisions against the backdrop of the pending litigation.”