ATLANTA — The City of Atlanta has found a way to free up extra money that might be used to repair the city’s aging water infrastructure.

Council members approved reducing the reserve fund for serving the Atlanta Department of Watershed Management’s debts to 50%, giving the city an extra $177 million that it could spend on fixing or replacing water-related infrastructure.

The decision comes just weeks after a series of major water main breaks in Atlanta caused several neighborhoods and thousands of residents to go without water for days.

However, the ordinance that was approved by the Atlanta City Council was proposed before the water main crisis, having first been introduced on May 29. The next day, the water main crisis bubbled over with multiple water main breaks across Midtown Atlanta.

The ordinance, which was approved by council members in a unanimous vote, modifies the city’s master bond ordinance to reduce debt service payments for Atlanta’s watershed department.

By doing so, the city’s payments will go from $106 million to $53 million, freeing up a chunk of the budget that had been in the reserve fund to go toward other projects.

While this doesn’t guarantee the money will be used specifically for the water system repairs, officials have already ballparked the overall system as being in need of more than $1 billion to complete the overhaul.

As previously reported by Channel 2 Action News, much of Atlanta’s water infrastructure – pipes -- date back to the 1920s, 30s, and 40s, and the decades of use is starting to become more apparent.