Press release from City of Asheville:
The City of Asheville continues to make progress in its efforts to restore full water service to all customers. Today community members will continue to see a return of service and improved service as the water distribution system continues to pressurize. The City understands everyone’s frustration during this event, unfortunately, the goal of having full water restored to all customers by the end of the day today will not be met. Staff continues to be out in the field verifying return of service as areas come back on line. This work is being complemented by support from Metropolitan Sewerage District (MSD) staff.
More areas came online overnight including portions of:
Old Heywood Rd
Glenbridge Rd & Old Shoals Area
Concord Rd from Mills Gap to Keswick (including Emma Grove)
Devonshire area
Emma Grove
Oak Forest along Long Shoals and Harrison Ford RdProduction continues to improve
A total of 28 million gallons of water per day is currently being produced by all three production facilities – all three facilities are contributing to the restoration of water service
Pressure in the system continues to rise to recharge water lines
A booster pump has been secured and will be in service today to increase the speed in which west Buncombe County water service can be restored.The map linked below represents the active water service restoration area in progress. Customers within these areas may still experience fluctuating service as the water system returns to normal.
Service Restoration Progress Map
Next Steps and what you can do
Water Resources staff continue to address water outages to the west and south, simultaneously. Additionally, crews from the MSD will be assisting with repairs and restoration work starting today.Many factors impact how quickly service can be fully restored. Water consumption, the amount of pressure in the water lines, and elevation are all factors. Service restoration will take the longest in areas of higher elevation particularly those located in west Buncombe County.
Water conservation will be an important factor. Here is what the community can do to help:
Minimize or delay processes that use large water quantities, if possible
Take shorter showers
Do not wash your car
Delay doing your laundry, if possible
Delay or limit running the dishwasher, if possibleAs water service returns, customers may continue to experience fluctuations in water pressure, intermittent service, or a cloudy appearance to the water.
Remember to Boil Water
Boil Water Advisory Map
Even as water service returns, customers in impacted areas remain under a boil water advisory. Advisories will be lifted when water quality testing has confirmed no bacteria is present in the water. Customers will receive an AVL Alert when the boil water advisory has been lifted.
Water Delivery to those without service
Over 11-hundred people and pets have been delivered drinking water through the efforts of staff in the Fire department, Public Works, Development Services Department, Parks and Recreation, Buncombe County Emergency Management and Buncombe County Fire Departments.
The NC 211 program will continue today and staff will assess throughout the day if delivery services will continue Saturday. NC 211 is connecting those with the greatest need or without access to transportation to these delivery efforts. While NC 211 is a 24/7 phone line, community members are asked to call between 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. to request water assistance. Please be patient when calling 2-1-1 as they are seeing a higher than normal call volume.
How can I stay up to date with the water outage?
Ongoing updates related to the water outage will be posted to the City website and on City social media.
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