Asheville Water Nearly Restored; The focus is on leaks, fractures

By Andrew R. Jones

Asheville Guard Dog

Asheville Water Resources has restored running water to almost the entire city, but three weeks after Tropical Storm Helene, workers are still checking the backlog for broken or hard-to-reach areas and water purity.

“We have 90 percent of our system up and running, probably 95 percent now,” Asheville Water Resources spokesman Clay Chandler said Oct. 18 at the Buncombe County Helene restoration meeting. “We understand that there are still pockets that do not have service. We understand this is frustrating for residents. It’s frustrating for us too.”

These areas include the Bee Tree area, where a line must be backfilled and stabilized before it can be pressurized; Reynold’s Mountain, which is higher and therefore more difficult to restore; and parts of Candler.

“There will be areas that receive water service after others, and that is due to several factors,” Chandler said. “The main factor is altitude. I don’t think that applies to Candler, but you know, we found some leaks and some breaks that we would only find if the pipes were pressurized.”

Officials have been predicting these disruptions since they began repairing the system, and more could occur in the coming days.

“We are working as quickly as possible to resolve the issues,” Chandler said. “There is a leak somewhere (in the Bee Tree area) that our staff is trying to find.”

There is no exact timeline for the rehabilitation of Bee Tree, where 40 homes are waiting for water. There’s better news on Eastmoor Road, east of Asheville, where 75 homes are waiting for water.

Chandler said water is expected by Friday evening.

While the city attempts to iron out minor problems throughout the system, larger issues regarding water purity remain.

A boil water warning remains in effect for everyone in the system. Removing particles in the water after Helene whips it into a chocolate milk-like soup of sediment is key to clearing the clue and restoring drinking water.

Up at the North Fork Reservoir, the city treats the water with a mixture of aluminum sulfate and caustic soda. Workers used a boat to dump bags full of chemicals into the reservoir to clean the water.

Aluminum sulfate is a “salty” mineral that the department uses to treat the reservoir regularly because it causes clay particles to coagulate and sink, resulting in clearer water for filtration and treatment.

The water department will also treat the water with additional caustic soda — another chemical it uses regularly — which will regulate the pH of the water so the aluminum sulfate can work most effectively.

More rounds of treatment are planned, and Chandler said he doesn’t know how many will be needed.

He said the city treats the lake with 10 parts per million of aluminum sulfate and caustic soda.

“We generally treat between three and four parts per million,” Chandler said. “Now, I know that sounds like an amazing increase, but to illustrate, the reservoir in Mississippi where I moved here is routinely treated with the same process at 15 to 20 parts per million. Some drinking water reservoirs that are particularly cloudy can be treated at 50 to 60 parts per million.”

The city plans to install curtains to screen the water and remove particles.

When asked about the timeline for their installation, Chandler replied, “Unknown.”

According to the city’s official guidelines, a boil water notice means that any water intended for consumption – drinking, cooking, brushing teeth – should be boiled for at least one minute beforehand. Water from the tap is suitable for handwashing (unless hands are being cleaned for food preparation), showering (be careful not to swallow water while showering) and laundry. The water is suitable for washing dishes as long as the temperature in the dishwasher reaches at least 170 degrees, which is usually the case when the disinfect setting is activated.

“Our plan now is to lift the boil water advisory when the entire system has potable water,” Chandler said.

[Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the location of Eastmoor Road. It is east of Asheville.]

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