Asheville could have drinkable water by middle of next week, city says

by ANDREW R. JONES

Asheville residents could have drinkable water by next week, nearly two months after the city’s primary water system was catastrophically damaged by Tropical Storm Helene.

The system is on the verge of being fully restored to drinkable water, possibly as early as Nov. 20, Asheville Water Resources spokesperson Clay Chandler said at Friday’s Buncombe County briefing.

The possibility of drinkable water being restored by Wednesday next week speeds up the timeline by nearly a month. Water Resources estimated earlier in November that the boil water notice could be lifted by mid-December.

“The use of treated water, combined with customer usage, has given us data that we feel is sufficient to reach the conclusion that the system has, for the most part, turned over, and the vast majority of water has been replaced with treated water,” Chandler said.

While he did not say this timeline was a guarantee, Chandler did say the outlook is positive.

“We are at the point that we can begin the sampling process to potentially lift the boil water notice,” Chandler said, noting the city is working closely with the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality to sample the water 40 times a day.

“We’ll have a pretty good idea Tuesday night after those samples,” Chandler said, referring to ongoing bacterial testing.

Tropical Storm Helene slammed the region Sept. 27, knocking out the city’s water supply at the North Fork reservoir, which provides 80 percent of the city’s drinking water. The city restored non-potable water to nearly all of the system by mid-October, but stubborn turbidity, or murkiness, at North Fork has delayed restoration of potable water.

The announcement comes a day after Asheville said it had found lead in the water of seven area school systems. Asheville Water Resources suspended a standard treatment for lead mitigation for nearly three weeks because the city’s main reservoir’s sedimentation was too high.

Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. Andrew R. Jones is a Watchdog investigative reporter. Email arjones@avlwatchdog.org. The Watchdog’s local reporting during this crisis is made possible by donations from the community. To show your support for this vital public service go to avlwatchdog.org/support-our-publication/.