ATLANTA — Tackling Atlanta’s crumbling water system is a $2 billion problem that city officials hope to solve without raising water rates on residents and businesses.

However, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens acknowledged during a Tuesday news conference that a stormwater utility fee is being considered to generate revenue for infrastructure improvements.

“That is a possibility,” the first-term mayor said. “It’s been talked about in Atlanta for at least 25 years or so. We haven’t ever implemented one (but) that is a source of revenue that can help with some of these things.”

The city’s widespread water outages last year cast a bright spotlight on the dire need to overhaul Atlanta’s infrastructure. The crisis forced a boil water advisory on residents which, in some places, lasted more than a week.

To avoid another major disruption — especially as the city’s population continues to grow — officials face the massive challenge of repairing or replacing thousands of miles of pipes underneath city streets. And many of those pipes are over 100 years old.

It is a problem with an astronomical price tag that Dickens hopes won’t fall on the shoulders of ratepayers.

“I can’t say that a water rate increase is on the table or off the table — right now we aren’t coming to the rate payer to say: 'More,’” the mayor said, while also acknowledging that a water rate increase could happen at some point during the expected 20-year lifespan of the project.

DeKalb County recently approved a 10% increase to water rates beginning on July 1 and then every Jan. 1 thereafter, meaning rates would go up 21% in the next year and would more than double over the next decade. County commissioners voted on the increase last month as DeKalb officials negotiated with state and federal regulators for a 10-year extension on a consent decree — the legal agreement that requires the county to fix its public sewer system.

The city of Atlanta also faces a looming consent decree to clean up its sewer system that has racked up tens of thousands of dollars in fines for polluting the area’s waterways. Department of Watershed Management Interim Commissioner Al Wiggins Jr. said the city has also requested an extension on its agreement, but has not heard back from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on potential terms.

That means the city will be both working to finish a massive sewer system overhaul that has been decades in the making at the same time as launching water system upgrades.

“We are committed to a multibillion-dollar, 20-plus-year investment in upgrading our drinking water infrastructure — one of the largest projects of its kind in the nation,” Dickens said. “Atlanta’s future depends on the decisions that we make today.”

The city enlisted the help of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that is slated to conduct a $1 million assessment of Atlanta’s water system needs over the next 12 months. And a new advisory board, that includes former Mayor Shirley Franklin — the self-proclaimed “sewer mayor” — will help chart the best path forward.

But the city is also counting on federal dollars to fix the problem. Dickens told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that help from Washington, D.C., is “critical” in solving Atlanta’s water woes, but uncertain due to changes made by the Trump administration.

Atlanta’s largest wastewater treatment plant, the R.M. Clayton Water Reclamation Center, was recently slapped with dozens of violations by the Georgia Environmental Protection Division for releasing high levels of bacteria into the river over the past nine months. The city faces a $300,000 fine from regulators. The Chattahoochee Riverkeeper also filed a federal lawsuit last year over pollution from the R.M. Clayton plant.

Wiggins said that since last year, the city has spent more than $50 million to automate the plant operations and upgrade systems to better detect leaks.

“That’s just the initial investment in the plant,” he said Tuesday.

Earlier this month, Dickens named a new leader of Atlanta’s embattled watershed department.

Former Houston Water Director James “Gregory” Eyerly will take on the role leading a department facing huge challenges.

Eyerly is set to step into the role in April, but joined the mayor and city officials on Tuesday during their update on the water system. The soon-to-be commissioner said he intends to focus on developing alternative water supplies and increasing water recycling.

“I believe the long-term vision for water in Atlanta is water security,” Eyerly said.

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