The North Fork Reservoir’s capacity for providing treated water to city customers continues to rise, but the water is still not potable and likely won’t be for weeks.
“North Fork’s capacity to push treated and filtered water into the system has risen to 17 million gallons a day,” Asheville Water Resources Department Clay Chandler said at the Buncombe County Helene briefing Wednesday. “That’s extremely significant. And that’s almost double what the capacity was when we first started pushing filtered water into the system last Wednesday.”
As the murkiness continues to improve, the city also has significantly dropped the amount of chlorine it’s using to treat the water.
The 350-acre reservoir, which provides drinking water to 80 percent of Asheville’s 63,000 customers, was hit hard by Tropical Storm Helene on Sept. 27, leaving it with extremely silt-laden water and without its three main distribution lines.
The city restored water service in mid-October, but only with heavily chlorinated lake water that is not potable. Chandler said workers have reduced chlorine levels from 8 parts per million initially to 2.5 this week.
The city has installed a “turbidity curtain” near the intakes to help still the reservoir, and it has conducted two treatment sessions with aluminum sulfate, a coagulant that helps clay particles sink, and caustic soda, which provides the optimum pH for that to work.
“We have ordered additional aluminum sulfate and caustic soda for next week’s treatment,” Chandler said. “We hope to get that underway Monday afternoon.”
Work continues on mobile filtration system
Additionally, Chandler said the city continues to work with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to install a mobile filtration system that can handle more turbid water. Turbidity is measured in Nephelometric Turbidity Units (NTU), and ideally the city needs that level to hit 1.5 to 2.0 for optimum filtration with the city’s direct filtration system. On Tuesday, turbidity stood around 18, down from 18.5 Monday morning and a previous high of 30.
The contractor will treat the reservoir near Black Mountain every day next week, “or until the treatment chemicals run out, whichever happens first,” Chandler said. “But we expect that to be a minimum of four days staying at North Fork.”
Previously, the city said it could not filter water until the 1.5-2.0 NTU range was reached, but Chandler said Wednesday that workers have discovered, with the Army Corps of Engineers’ help, that the plant can handle more turbid water.
The system needs to reach 27 million gallons a day in production to fully pressurize the system and provide potable water. The Army Corps set up a small, portable pilot treatment system at North Fork “that has the same kind of filters on it that we have,” Chandler said.
“And we just started testing pushing water through it, seeing how the filters handled it, seeing how long we could run the filters before we had to take them offline and backwash them,” he continued. “And once we got comfortable with the results, and how that small amount translated to a large amount, that’s when we started pushing filtered water through the system. That was a week ago today.”
The city has conducted two treatment sessions with aluminum sulfate, a coagulant that helps clay particles sink, and caustic soda, which provides the optimum pH for that to work. A third treatment is set for next week. // Credit: City of Asheville
The city would still be “most comfortable” pushing the full amount of water through the system with turbidity at 1.5-2.0 NTU. In normal times, the reservoir’s water hovers around 1.0, but it was deluged with silt during Helene and the lake essentially turned upside down, Chandler has said previously.
The Army Corps continues to work to install a mobile filtration system at North Fork designed for high-turbidity water. Chandler said previously that it could be ready in late November or early December, and the Corps’ procurement process for that equipment is ongoing.
Chandler also noted that one of the city’s contractors, T&K Utilities, completed installation of new primary transmission main lines from the reservoir, a 24-inch pipe and a 36-inch pipe. The previous transmission lines, along with a 36-inch bypass line, all washed out in the storm.
Chandler said the two main lines do follow “the same general route” as before.
“The bypass location — same thing, same general area,” Chandler said. “But when this process is finished, it will be more heavily armored and buried deeper than it was previously.”
Eventually the city would like to work toward an additional bypass line that would be “geographically separate” from the current main lines and the bypass line, but the area around North Fork is mountainous and geographically challenging, Chandler said.
Once the city can filter the full 27 million gallons of water daily through North Fork, it will take two to three weeks to fully flush, refill and repressurize the system to deliver potable water, the city has said previously.
Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. John Boyle has been covering Asheville and surrounding communities since the 20th century. You can reach him at (828) 337-0941, or via email at jboyle@avlwatchdog.org. To show your support for this vital public service go to avlwatchdog.org/support-our-publication/.
SUMMARY: Donald van der Vaart, a former North Carolina environmental secretary and climate skeptic, has been appointed to the North Carolina Utilities Commission by Republican Treasurer Brad Briner. Van der Vaart, who previously supported offshore drilling and fracking, would oversee the state’s transition to renewable energy while regulating utility services. His appointment, which requires approval from the state House and Senate, has drawn opposition from environmental groups. Critics argue that his views contradict clean energy progress. The appointment follows a controversial bill passed by the legislature, granting the treasurer appointment power to the commission.
www.thecentersquare.com – By Alan Wooten | The Center Square – (The Center Square – ) 2025-04-30 14:47:00
(The Center Square) – Called “crypto-friendly legislation” by the leader of the chamber, a proposal on digital assets on Wednesday afternoon passed the North Carolina House of Representatives.
Passage was 71-44 mostly along party lines.
The NC Digital Assets Investments Act, known also as House Bill 92, has investment requirements, caps and management, and clear definitions and standards aimed at making sure only qualified digital assets are included. House Speaker Destin Hall, R-Caldwell, said the state would potentially join more than a dozen others with “crypto-friendly legislation.”
With him in sponsorship are Reps. Stephen Ross, R-Alamance, Mark Brody, R-Union, and Mike Schietzelt, R-Wake.
Nationally last year, the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act – known as FIT21 – passed through the U.S. House in May and in September was parked in the Senate’s Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs.
Dan Spuller, cochairman of the North Carolina Blockchain Initiative, said the state has proven a leader on digital asset policy. That includes the Money Transmitters Act of 2016, the North Carolina Regulatory Sandbox Act of 2021, and last year’s No Centrl Bank Digital Currency Pmts to State. The latter was strongly opposed by Gov. Roy Cooper, so much so that passage votes of 109-4 in the House and 39-5 in the Senate slipped back to override votes, respectively, of 73-41 and 27-17.
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Centrist
The article presents a factual report on the passage of the NC Digital Assets Investments Act, highlighting the legislative process, party-line votes, and related legislative measures. It does not adopt a clear ideological stance or frame the legislation in a way that suggests bias. Instead, it provides neutral information on the bill, its sponsors, and relevant background on state legislative activity in digital asset policy. The tone and language remain objective, focusing on legislative facts rather than promoting a particular viewpoint.
www.thecentersquare.com – By Alan Wooten | The Center Square – (The Center Square – ) 2025-04-30 11:04:00
(The Center Square) – Hurricane Helene recovery in North Carolina is being impacted by a federal agency with seven consecutive failed audits and the elimination of hundreds of its workers in the state.
Democratic Attorney General Jeff Jackson joined a lawsuit on behalf of the state with 23 other states and the District of Columbia against AmeriCorps, known also as the Corporation for National and Community Service. The state’s top prosecutor says eight of 19 AmeriCorps programs and 202 jobs are being lost in the state by the cuts to the federal program.
Jeff Jackson, North Carolina attorney general
NCDOJ.gov
The litigation says responsibility lies with the Department of Government Efficiency established by President Donald Trump.
“These funds – which Congress already appropriated for North Carolina – are creating jobs, cleaning up storm damage, and helping families rebuild,” Jackson said. “AmeriCorps must follow the law so that people in western North Carolina can confidently move forward.”
Jackson, in a release, said 50 of the 750 volunteers terminated on April 15 were in North Carolina. Three programs with 84 people employed were impacted on Friday when AmeriCorps cut federal funds to grant programs that run through the North Carolina Commission on Volunteerism and Community Service.
Project MARS was helping in 18 western counties, providing supplies and meals to homebound and stranded families. Clothing, crisis hotlines and school supports were also aided. Project Conserve was in 25 western counties helping with debris removal, tree replanting, storm-system repairs and rain-barrel distribution. Project POWER helped large-scale food donations for more than 10,000 people in the hard-hit counties of Buncombe, Henderson and Madison.
The White House has defended its accountability actions and did so on this move. AmeriCorps has a budget of about $1 billion.
Helene killed 107 in North Carolina and caused an estimated $60 billion damage.
The storm made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane in Dekle Beach, Fla., on Sept. 26. It dissipated over the mountains of the state and Tennessee, dropping more than 30 inches in some places and over 24 consistently across more.
U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., said last year AmeriCorps has a legacy of “incompetence and total disregard for taxpayer money.” She was chairwoman of the House Committee on Education and Workforce, which requested the report showing repeated failed audits and financial management troubles.
“AmeriCorps,” Foxx said, “receives an astounding $1 billion in taxpayer funds every year but hasn’t received a clean audit for the past seven years. As instances of fraud continue, the agency has proven time and time again incapable of reforming itself and should never be given another opportunity to abuse taxpayer dollars.”
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Center-Right
The article presents an ideological stance that leans toward the right, particularly in its portrayal of AmeriCorps, a federal agency, and its financial mismanagement. The language used to describe the agency’s struggles with audits, financial troubles, and alleged incompetence reflects a critical perspective typically associated with conservative viewpoints, especially through the quote from Republican Rep. Virginia Foxx. Additionally, the inclusion of comments from North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson and other Democratic officials highlights a contrast in political positions. However, the article itself primarily reports on legal actions and the consequences of funding cuts without pushing a clear partisan agenda, thus maintaining a degree of neutrality in reporting factual details of the case.
