WaterLinks hosts water forum on to address local water issues

Asheville, NC – Today Transition Asheville and WaterLinks, PLLC, sponsors of the Water Sustainability Initiative (WSI), together with the Lenoir-Rhyne Center for Graduate Studies of Asheville and the United Nations Association of Western North Carolina, announced a water forum titled “What You Can Do To Tackle Local Water Concerns.”  The evening will include the experiences of individuals, current updates, and potential solutions for everyday citizens to use to address water-related issues found in recent Asheville news reports.

The topics and speakers will include:

  • Excessive Rain Events
    • Dr. Charles O’Cain, resident of Sunset Mountain
    • Rick Wooten, Sr. Geologist for Geohazards and Engineering Geology, NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources
  • Asheville Water System
    • Ivan Thomas, Operations Manager, City of Asheville Water Resources
  • Hominy Creek Spill
    • Eric Bradford, Asheville Greenworks
    • Chuck Cranford, Water Quality, Asheville Regional Office Supervisor, NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources
  • CTS Site
    • Lee Ann Smith, Protecting Our Water and Environmental Resources
    • Jeff Wilcox, Associate Professor, Department of Environmental Studies, University of North Carolina, Asheville
  • Coal ash ponds
    • Emma Greenbaum, Sierra Club.

Sherry Ingram, Professional Geologist and Lead Person on the WSI, will present some simple demonstrations that will show why the solutions offered by the WSI – plants, tanks, earthworks, and community engagement – can address not only drought and flood conditions but contamination as well.

The water forum will be held at the Board Room of the Lenoir-Rhyne Center for Graduate Studies of Asheville, in the Chamber of Commerce Building at 36 Montford Avenue in Asheville, 6-9pm, on July 31, 2014.

Western North Carolina is fortunate to have a lot of rain, even during drought,  and climate predictions include increases in precipitation amounts.  Ingram stated, “How we move and store our rain affects how much water remains available for keeping the streams full, the plants lush, the air cool, and the soils moist.  Many methods for managing rain water are readily available, cheap, and easy to implement.  Water management becomes an issue we can all do something about, not just an issue for our utilities and municipalities.”

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About Hayley Benton
Current freelance journalist and artist. Former culture/entertainment reporter at the Asheville Citizen-Times and former news reporter at Mountain Xpress. Also a coffee drinker, bad photographer, teller of stupid jokes and maker-upper of words. I can be reached at hayleyebenton [at] gmail.com. Follow me @HayleyTweeet

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