From CPP: DEQ says Asheville didn’t follow communicat­ion protocols during water problems

“They are supposed to notify the customers to boil the water and then take a sample to make sure there is no bacteria present in the water and then they lift the boil water advisory,” Kimberly Barnett, the regional manager for Asheville at the state Department of Environmental Quality, told Carolina Public Press. The city of Asheville didn’t follow that process after widespread water outages on April 1.

City, state argue Asheville water case before Supreme Court

by Ted Strong, Carolina Public Press The General Assembly’s bid to force the regionalization of Asheville’s water system is an unconstitutional over-reach, the city’s attorney argued Tuesday before the state Supreme Court. An attorney representing the state countered that a literal, absolutist interpretation of a provision of the state Constitution barring the legislature from making […]

Moffitt: Council’s proposed referendum on water system “serves no purpose”

On July 31, Asheville City Council members asked staff to draft a referendum that lets residents vote on a possible transfer of the city water system to the Metropolitan Sewerage District of Buncombe County. But according to Buncombe County Rep. Tim Moffitt, who chaired a state legislative study commission on the matter, he does not need a referendum to know the where folks in the City of Asheville stand on this issue. (photo by Max Cooper)