MACON, Ga. — Just 28 years ago, much of Central Georgia was left flooded after Tropical Storm Alberto.
One of the spots hit the hardest was the old Macon Water Authority treatment plant. The flooding Ocmulgee River left the plant covered in mud and debris.
Today, the Porter Pavilion at Amerson River Park is known for breathtaking views of the Ocmulgee; but in 1994, it was a 100-year-old steam-powered water treatment plant.
"When we first seen the plant with mud and water through it, I didn't think we would ever be able to start the old plant back," Don Arnold, the former plant manager, said.
'Let it flow.' That's the Macon Water Authority's tagline from July 1994.
"We just stayed online until the last drop," said Chester Stewart, the plant's assistant manager under Arnold.
If you get Arnold and Stewart together, the memories flow, too.
"We had no fire protection for the whole 17 day period," Stewart said.
The duo ran the old water treatment plant in the mid-1990s. For weeks, they coordinated hundreds of workers cleaning up the mess.
"To see that building go dark and just to hear the trickling of the water, I wouldn't have felt any worse if it were trickling through my own living room," Stewart said. "I felt that bad about it."
After almost two weeks without running water, there was a glimmer of hope.
"We felt so good when we started that first small pump," Arnold said. "After 12 days, we were able to start the first small pump that we had and put water downtown."
Arnold says every time they got the system up and running, it would short out. Eventually, though, it stayed running.
"It took several more days for it to get to the end of the system," Arnold said.
Today, the water authority has a much newer facility on a much higher elevation. It's in Jones County, and opened 22 years ago July 10.
It pumps 60,000,000 gallons of water a day.
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