The [July 27] Molton cartoon is a very unfortunate representation of what is involved in the water quality issues in the French Broad River [“Swim at Your Own Risk,” Xpress].
Sanitary sewer overflows were prevalent and a major issue 20 years ago.
At right is a graph of the sanitary sewer overflows since 1999 for the Metropolitan Sewerage District entire service area for all rivers and tributaries. There has been almost a twentyfold decrease in these events due to all the replacement sewer work that has been accomplished in that time.
There are many inputs that are currently much more impactful, e.g., agricultural runoff from farm animal operations and erosion of clay silt from the many construction sites, straight-piping of houses directly to the river, poorly operating package plants and on-site septic failures. One of the most impactful to recreation are rainstorm events, which stir up sediments from the bottom of the river.
MSD has spent over $314 million in that time frame just on rehabbing and replacing over 1.3 million feet of the sewer system. We will be constructing over $380 million worth of rehab and replacements in the next 10 years.
I understand that it is important to get “clicks,” but I think the cartoonist does our community no favors by “dumbing it down.”
— Tom Hartye
General manager
Metropolitan Sewerage District of Buncombe County
Asheville
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