ATLANTA — The city of Atlanta will soon start to shut off customers' water in the coming weeks if your account is well overdue. It’s happening as the city faces more than $1 million worth of unpaid bills.

However, the shutoffs won’t happen all at once.

“A lot of people got misled when the mail said, 'No, we’re not going to shut the water off.' And a lot of people thought they didn’t have to pay the bill,” Atlanta resident Ruffin Boddie said. 

Boddie adds his 90-year-old family member is among the residents who decided to not pay their water bill for years. 

"His bill that way up to around $4,000 to $5,000 and I got with the people here and they went ahead and worked a good deal out for us," Boddie said.