Running water is coming back to Buncombe after Helene’s floodwaters ripped municipal lines out of the ground, leaving thousands without the vital utility.
But many residents, businesses, and government operations have decided to play it safe and dig a well.
According to data obtained by Asheville Watchdog, 103 residents and businesses applied to drill wells across Buncombe from Oct. 1 to Oct. 14 — and 25 of those requests came in the past four days.
Churches, schools, an Ingles grocery store, a residential mental health facility, a hospital, senior living areas, an outdoor supply store, an auto shop, and homeowners were among those asking for permits to create a new source of water on their properties.
Though water services are slowly returning to city neighborhoods and unincorporated areas, there is still no official timeline for when all of Buncombe will have water restored, leading many to find another solution and a backup in case of another outage.
Helene knocked out water for so many homes that 90,000 to 100,000 people across the region were still without water on Oct. 13, according to Asheville Water Resources spokesman Clay Chandler.
It is the second environmental crisis to break Asheville’s water system in less than two years: Frozen pipes and equipment during the 2022-2023 holiday season left many in the city without water for 11 days.
Driven by Helene’s devastation and the recent memory of that other system failure, Buncombe is granting permits quickly: As of Monday, the county had granted 52 well-drilling permits, according to the data.
Data from Buncombe County shows the amount of well digging permits filed in 2024. // Watchdog graphic by Andrew R. Jones
Applicants include city and county schools. Asheville City Schools Superintendent Maggie Fehrman said last week the school system doesn’t want to wait for the city to restore water, and would begin installing wells on school campuses.
The home services website Angie’s List estimates the average cost to drill a well ranges from $25 to $65 per foot drilled, “although $25 to $35 per foot is a good guideline for most projects. Expect to pay more when digging in remote areas or through rocky, sloped, dry, or low-quality soil.”
Halfway through October, the number of well permit applications is nearly double than it was for the entire month of May, the previous busiest month of 2024, when there were 56.
Residents and organizations filed 386 well permit applications between Jan. 1 and Sept. 26 this year, according to the data.
Backups and quality control
The surge in demand is hitting the county’s permitting office and local drilling contractors.
“So much going on right now, it’s unreal,” said Jerry Fowler, owner of Ace Well & Pump Services in Leicester. “It was already backed up before this. Most of the drillers were four, five, or six months behind before this came out.”
But people and businesses are desperate for alternatives, Fowler said. “They’re wanting to get off the city so they won’t have to go through this again,” he said.
Others want greater control over the quality of their water. A resident on Delaware Avenue in Asheville, who did not want her name used for privacy reasons, said she was worried about contamination in city water.
“We have concerns about potential contamination for our water system,” said the resident, who did not yet have running city water Tuesday. She said she and her family are concerned about “what’s been leaking into the pipes, what’s going to remain residual in the pipes, you know, the thought that potentially well water could be safer in the long run. That’s our main concern.”
Asheville on Oct. 14 announced a boil water notice for all customers, explaining that water will be contaminated “due to impacts from Hurricane Helene including the potential for untreated water in the distribution system from pipe breaks and levels of turbidity that exceed Safe Drinking Water Act standards initially used to restore water pressure.”
Wells are also prone to contamination. Asheville is handing out well water testing kits and pointing to a Helene recovery dashboard by Northeastern University to help well owners take care of new or damaged systems.
FEMA to the rescue
In Candler, Pastor Steve Smith said Good News Baptist Church decided to drill a well for congregants. He filed for a permit Oct. 10 and was approved soon after.
“Any time the water’s disrupted here at the church, it would just be so much better for us if we had a well,” Smith said. “All of our people that are members of the church that have no water, we could provide water for them, and we just feel like it would be in the best interest of the church.”
A well drilled at Hall Fletcher Elementary school is covered up by a decorative stone. // Watchdog photo by Starr Sariego.
Church leadership had been considering a well for some time before Helene, Smith said.
“We actually had talked about this many times,” Smith said. “I guess this just gave us the motivation to quit talking about it and go ahead and do it.”
Mission Hospital in Asheville, which has been relying on water tanks and trucks, also decided to drill a well. So did other medical facilities in the area.
Leadership at Aston Park Health Center on Brevard Road, a nursing facility that houses 120 residents, began talking about digging a well immediately after the storm.
“We do, like everybody else does, a lot of disaster planning,” said Ted Goins, president of Lutheran Services of the Carolinas, of which Aston is a member. But, he said, no one imagined that any health care facility would be without water for this long, he said. “For us, water is just as vital as electricity, especially with 120 residents that need to go to the bathroom, that need all their needs met, and that’s their home.”
Goins applied for a permit on Oct. 10, according to the Buncombe data. Before that, Aston brought in a water truck.
But then the Federal Emergency Management Agency intervened.
“God bless FEMA,” Goins said. “They came in and helped us put in place an entire tank system that helped us run our entire building.”
That lessened but didn’t eliminate the need for a well. Aston still did not have running water when the drilling company arrived on campus Tuesday.
The facility might never need the well water, Goins said, but now they will be prepared just in case.
“I don’t know how anybody could have foreseen such a thing as this,” he said. “I mean, it’s like preparing for a meteor.”
Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. Andrew R. Jones is a Watchdog investigative reporter. Email arjones@avlwatchdog.org. The Watchdog’s local reporting during this crisis is made possible by donations from the community. To show your support for this vital public service go to avlwatchdog.org/support-our-publication/.
SUMMARY: Jim Jenkins, a North Carolina baseball trailblazer and Negro Leagues player, exemplified resilience and excellence both on and off the field. His sons recall his superior skills—hitting, running, and catching—and how he faced challenges due to his skin color. Beyond baseball, Jenkins was a community father, teaching youths fundamentals and helping those in need. He shared a friendship with legend Hank Aaron, often attending Braves games with his family. His legacy endures through his children, who honor not just his athletic achievements but his kindness and humanity, inspiring future generations to carry on his impact.
James “Jim” Jenkins had a profound impact on the game of baseball as a trailblazer known in the Carolinas.
SUMMARY: A scientist reflecting on the politicization of science warns that ideological influence undermines objectivity, breeds mistrust, and hampers public understanding. The FY2026 budget proposal cut NIH funding by about 40%, saving taxpayers $18 billion, but only 1.5% of the total federal budget, while increasing defense spending by 13%. These cuts severely impact states like North Carolina, where science drives $2.4 billion in tax revenue and thousands of jobs. The cuts target indirect costs vital for research infrastructure and diversity efforts, mistakenly seen as ideological rather than essential scientific practices. The author calls for unity to prioritize facts over politics and protect scientific progress for societal and economic health.
www.thecentersquare.com – By Alan Wooten | The Center Square – (The Center Square – ) 2025-06-15 02:01:00
North Carolina’s U.S. House members voted along party lines on two Republican-backed bills: the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (H.R. 1), which cuts \$1.6 trillion in government spending, and the “Rescissions Act of 2025” (H.R. 4), which eliminates \$9.4 billion from entities like USAID and public broadcasting. Republicans called it a purge of waste, citing spending on drag shows and foreign projects. Democrats criticized the cuts as harmful and symbolic, calling the effort fiscally irresponsible. H.R. 1 passed 215-214; H.R. 4 passed 214-212. No Democrats supported either. A few Republicans broke ranks and voted against their party on each bill.
(The Center Square) – North Carolinians in the U.S. House of Representatives were unwavering of party preference for two bills now awaiting finalization in the Senate.
Republicans who favored them say the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, known also as House Resolution 1, slashed $1.6 trillion in waste, fraud and abuse of government systems. The Rescissions Act of 2025, known also as House Resolution 4, did away with $9.4 billion – less than six-tenths of 1% of the other legislation – in spending by the State Department, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Corp. for Public Broadcasting (PBS, NPR), and other entities.
Democrats against them say the Department of Government Efficiency made “heartless budget cuts” and was an “attack on the resources that North Carolinians were promised and that Congress has already appropriated.”
Republicans from North Carolina in favor of both were Reps. Dr. Greg Murphy, Virginia Foxx, Addison McDowell, David Rouzer, Rev. Mark Harris, Richard Hudson, Pat Harrigan, Chuck Edwards, Brad Knott and Tim Moore.
Democrats against were Reps. Don Davis, Deborah Ross, Valerie Foushee and Alma Adams.
Foxx said the surface was barely skimmed with cuts of “$14 million in cash vouchers for migrants at our southern border; $24,000 for a national spelling bee in Bosnia; $1.5 million to mobilize elderly, lesbian, transgender, nonbinary and intersex people to be involved in the Costa Rica political process; $20,000 for a drag show in Ecuador; and $32,000 for an LGBTQ comic book in Peru.”
Adams said, “While Elon Musk claimed he would cut $1 trillion from the federal government, the recissions package amounts to less than 1% of that. Meanwhile, House Republicans voted just last month to balloon the national debt by $3 trillion in their One Big Ugly Bill. It’s fiscal malpractice, not fiscal responsibility.”
House Resolution 1 passed 215-214 and House Resolution 4 went forward 214-212. Republican Reps. Warren Davidson of Ohio and Thomas Massie of Kentucky were against the One Big Beautiful Bill and Republican Reps. Mark Amodei of Nevada, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Nicole Malliotakis of New York and Michael Turner of Ohio were against the Rescissions Act.
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 straightforward report on the partisan positions and voting outcomes related to two specific bills, highlighting the contrasting views of Republicans and Democrats without using loaded or emotionally charged language. It neutrally conveys the Republicans’ framing of the bills as efforts to cut waste and reduce spending, alongside Democrats’ critique of those cuts as harmful and insufficient fiscal discipline. By providing direct quotes from representatives of both parties and clearly stating voting results, the content maintains factual reporting without promoting a particular ideological stance. The balanced presentation of arguments and absence of editorializing indicate a commitment to neutrality rather than an intentional partisan perspective.
