Restoration of Asheville water supply takes step forward at reservoir

The restoration of water treatment at North Fork Reservoir progressed Thursday, though the return of potable water in Asheville remains a moving target.

Following word earlier that morning that the reservoir’s 36-inch bypass line was connected to the water supply, a gathering of local, state and federal officials announced plans to accelerate water quality improvement by treating the water in the reservoir directly, using some of the same tactics applied at the water treatment plant.

U.S. EPA Administrator Michael Regan, a Goldsboro native and former Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, and Gov. Roy Cooper visited the reservoir for a briefing as part of a tour of storm-ravaged areas of Western North Carolina.

“Priority No. 1 is to get clean, quality drinking water to everyone who doesn’t have that,” Regan said. “And so as we look at private wells and the water system, we want to be able to provide every single asset we have.”

More:Helene in Western North Carolina: Everything you need to know from help to recovery efforts

David Melton, Asheville's water resources director, said the point of direct treatment is to get the reservoir — still a murky brown due to sediment — to a place where it can be treated by the water plant. The chemical treatment, aluminum sulfate, bonds clay particles together and causes the to sinking to the bottom. It will be applied in 500-foot swathes radiating out from the intake.

“It’s definitely been done in other states,” Melton said. “It’s got precedent. So, it’s tried and tested, so we feel very confident with the process.”

The reservoir typically exceeds EPA water quality standards and is clear to a depth of 10 feet, Melton said. On Thursday, the water was noticeably murky and clearer water in the reservoir could take weeks — or even months — without direct treatment, he said.

As the temperature gets cooler, the natural process of settling out particulate matter slows, too.

With the mountain reservoir as a backdrop, Cooper spoke of the need not only to rebuild damaged water, infrastructure but improve it in the face of something like Tropical Storm Helene. The governor called the disaster unprecedented and said flood waters came into parts of the region they never had before.

“We have to take that into account as we work to rebuild and repair these water systems,” Cooper said. “So today we’re here to inspect. We appreciate the great work that’s been done and we know that this needs to be done as quickly and effectively as possible.”

The reservoir stores untreated water pumped from the Mills River, where suspended material typically settles out. Upon entering the treatment plant, any remaining particulate is treated with aluminum sulfate, a salt, which causes the heavy particles to settle out into catch basins.

The water undergoes additional disinfection and filtration before its acidity is balanced and fluoride added. From there, corrosion inhibitors and chlorine are added to preserve water quality in the distribution system.

The North Fork Reservoir is the source for more than 70% of Asheville’s water customers.

While the reservoir gets a healthy amount of attention as the holding tank for most of the city’s water, the Asheville Water Resources Department and Department of Public Works are working to find leaks and broken lines in other places around the city, Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer said.

“They have put their own lives aside and worked night and day to meet the great needs of our city,” Manheimer said. “They have done heroic work.”

For residents with private wells in WNC, Regan touted the EPA’s mobile testing lab that is capable of testing 100 samples per day. Residents can contact their local health agency to get equipment, and the EPA will test the water for free on a roughly 48-hour turnaround.

“I think that this is very critical because we want people to have confidence in their drinking water,” Regan said. “And if we test that water and it’s safe, then we don’t have another health issue on our hands.”

As many as 20,000 private wells possibly were affected by Helene, Regan said.