Press release from Town of Weaverville:
The Town of Weaverville is pleased to announce that the State of North Carolina’s 2023-2025 fiscal biennium budget allocated the Town $15 million for its water treatment plant expansion. These funds were allocated through the Clean Water and Drinking Water Reserve to the Department of Environmental Quality and Water Infrastructure Fund.
“The Town of Weaverville is elated to see funding for this vital project come to fruition,” stated Mayor Patrick Fitzsimmons. Mayor Fitzsimmons went on to share that this project has been on the table for formal discussion since 2018 and is necessary as the Town partners with its neighbors in the provision of emergency water for our growing communities.
Currently, Weaverville operates a 1.5 million gallon per day water treatment plant that became operational in 1996. The plant was designed to be doubled for future growth needs. The project is expected to cost $22 million and take approximately 5 years to complete. Although the Town has some reserve funds for the project, the State funding will assist in keeping Town water rates lower than they would be had the Town not received outside funding.
Weaverville and most of the surrounding jurisdictions are experiencing high growth rates and are reasonably expected to need additional water capacity in approximately 5 years. The towns of Weaverville and Mars Hill maintain an infrastructure interconnection and currently have an intergovernmental agreement for the mutual provision of short-term emergency water should the need arise. This mutual interconnection could also be available to assist the Town of Marshall in the future. The Town of Weaverville is currently working with the Woodfin Water District to enter into a similar interconnection agreement.
Mayor Patrick Fitzsimmons concluded, “We certainly appreciate the regional support for this project, including support from Madison County, the Town of Mars Hill, and the Town of Marshall, along with the legislative support we received during the State’s budget deliberations.”
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