Residents at Walnut Creek Apartments in East Macon have gone more than a week without running water, forcing them to haul jugs for basic needs, shower at other people's homes, and beg friends and family for help washing up. The complex, located off Gray Highway near Walnut Creek, is also headed toward a foreclosure sale next month, adding urgency to a situation tenants say has come with almost no explanation.
The lack of running water has made even the most basic parts of daily life difficult. Residents have been going elsewhere to shower and relying on water jugs for bathroom use and other necessities, according to 13WMAZ. The ordeal has pushed some residents to start looking for somewhere else to live.
The outage has also left residents relying on family and friends for help while they wait for water service to return.
Neighbors Leaning on Each Other to Get By
Micheal Mills, Wilson's son, said he's had to rely on other people just to wash his hands, something he described as uncomfortable to keep asking for. The outage has left residents waiting for answers about when water service will return, according to the same account.
The Macon Water Authority is communicating with Walnut Creek's property management and is working to restore service, per the report. Exactly what triggered the outage, and how long it has been building, has not been detailed by officials, and residents themselves say they've been left largely in the dark.
A Foreclosure Sale Looms in October
Complicating matters, the property is scheduled to be sold at a foreclosure auction on October 6, with the sale set to take place at the Bibb County Courthouse and the complex slated to go to the highest cash bidder. Foreclosure sales in Bibb County are routinely held on the first Tuesday of each month at the courthouse, where real property tied to a defaulted deed is sold at public outcry, according to the Georgia General Assembly.
Water outages tied to apartment ownership trouble are not new to Macon. In February 2019, the Macon Water Authority issued a 30-day shutoff notice to the 300-unit Crystal Lake Apartments after management racked up an unpaid $39,000 water bill, according to GPB News. That same month, Kenilworth Manor LLC was also mentioned in a separate report, as reported by 13WMAZ at the time.
Why an Entire Complex Loses Water at Once
Much of the vulnerability traces back to how older Macon properties are metered. Georgia law requires apartment complexes built in 2012 or later to have individual submeters for each unit, but older properties frequently run on a single master meter, meaning the Macon Water Authority bills the entire complex through one central account rather than billing residents directly, per the Macon Telegraph. This setup concentrates the complex's water billing in one central account.
Macon-Bibb County enforces the 2018 International Plumbing Code, according to Macon-Bibb County Government. Georgia also strengthened tenant protections in 2024 with the Safe at Home Act, which created a non-waivable statutory warranty requiring landlords to keep rental units fit for human habitation, including functioning plumbing and running water, as detailed by Williams Teusink. Separately, Georgia Code § 44-7-14.1 has been amended, according to Justia Law.
Georgia landlord-tenant standards can be relevant to disputes involving a prolonged loss of running water. Tenants facing an extended outage may have to decide whether to remain or move, underscoring the bind facing Walnut Creek residents. Housing habitability problems can include missing plumbing or essential utilities.
For now, Walnut Creek residents are left improvising, using water jugs, seeking places to shower and relying on others for help, all while the countdown to next month's courthouse auction continues.
