Approximately 65 people, mostly city employees and public officials, participated in an Oct. 20 ribbon-cutting atop the North Fork Reservoir and Water Treatment Plant dam’s new auxiliary spillway, one of several upgrades to the facility’s safety and climate resilience.
The three-year construction project brings the North Fork Dam up to North Carolina state standards for safety and adds climate resilience to Asheville’s largest water source. The work marks the largest renovation of the dam and its accompanying North Fork Reservoir since the facility’s opening in 1955.
Last October, the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality placed stricter controls on what outside materials MSD could accept, thus barring the plant from taking Asheville’s treatment residuals. The city’s current plan is to landfill the sludge in Buncombe County and Concord, N.C. — at over 2 1/2 times the cost of its previous disposal arrangement.
The Asheville city budget for fiscal year 2018-19 includes contains money to hire two new staffers, a security coordinator and technical support technician. Jonathan Feldman, city chief information officer, says Asheville’s IT department finds itself squeezed between increasing internal demand for digital work and “mushrooming” external security threats.
The Asheville Water Resources Department shared plans for a major improvement project at the city’s 60-year-old North Fork Reservoir in four public meetings held Aug. 22-25. The $30 million to $35 million project will increase the reservoir’s capacity and bolster the dam’s ability to handle extreme rain events safely.
