While the City of Asheville has restored potable water to its 63,000 customers, it’s still struggling with high turbidity at its main reservoir, North Fork.
Filtering that cloudy water remains a challenge, but major assistance is on the way this week in the form of a $39 million six-month project spearheaded by the Army Corps of Engineers to install a mobile filtration system at the reservoir. The city and the Corps planned to start testing the system this week, and Asheville Water Resources spokesperson Clay Chandler said it should be operational by Friday.
Chandler addressed the plan at the Monday Tropical Storm Helene briefing and then answered followup questions via email. Plans call for the system, which will be run by a contractor, to run continuously at North Fork Reservoir, which is located outside of Black Mountain and provides water to 80 percent of the city’s residents.
“Its production will start small, around 5 million gallons per day, and ramp up from there,” Chandler said. “Eventually, the Corps of Engineers system will do most of the heavy lifting, with North Fork’s existing processes providing support, to produce the average daily demand of 20-25 million gallons of water.”
The city restored untreated water to most customers in mid-October and potable water Nov. 18. But turbidity remains a concern.
“While North Fork has been able to meet system demand on its own for several weeks, we’re still one snowstorm or other especially windy weather event from the turbidity becoming unmanageable for our existing treatment processes,” Chandler said. “The Corps of Engineers system will provide a critical layer of security that will keep our customers in water should that happen.”
Chandler said the Federal Emergency Management Agency will cover the cost of the project.
Army Corps of Engineers spokesperson Patrick Moes said the North Fork Reservoir Turbidity Reduction Project contract was awarded to Ahtna/CDM Smith on Nov. 8.
“With respect to the design of the project, we provided the holistic performance requirements such as a gallons per day requirement (25 million), pumping requirements, etc., and the contractor executed the plan,” Moes said via email.
“The $39.2 million contract is for six months, with options to extend the work beyond the initial performance effort. The extension options include two additional six-month intervals, but we have not had those discussions at this point.”
Ahtna and CDM Smith have worked together on other projects. Ahtna’s website states the corporation is “one of 13 Alaska Native Regional Corporations established by Congress under terms of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971.
“Based in Glennallen, Alaska, Ahtna, Inc. is owned by more than 2,000 shareholders, the majority of whom are of Ahtna Athabascan descent,” the site continues. “Many Ahtna shareholders still reside in the Ahtna region, the traditional homeland of the Ahtna people.”
Nearly a month after Tropical Storm Helene knocked out the City of Asheville’s water system, North Fork Reservoir remained a murky brown. The city restored untreated water to most customers in mid-October and potable water Nov. 18. But turbidity remains a concern. // Credit: City of Asheville
Ahtna’s subsidiaries provide a range of services across many industries, construction and government contracting, according to the website. It works in all 50 states.
CDM Smith is a privately owned engineering and construction company that offers service in “water, environment, transportation, energy and facilities,” according to its website. Its world headquarters is in Boston.
After Helene caused extreme flooding and heavy runoff into North Fork, on Sept. 27, essentially turning the 350-acre lake upside down, the measurement of turbidity, Nephelometric Turbidity Units (NTUs), stood at 79. The raw water coming into North Fork, which is surrounded by a largely undeveloped 20,000-acre watershed, usually has a measurement around 1. By Monday it had dropped to 12.7.
The city has taken several measures to reduce turbidity, including three rounds of in-lake chemical treatments to help sediment coagulate and sink, and the installation of “turbidity curtains” designed to help still the water and foster coagulation of clay particles.
With the Army Corps’ help in constructing a pilot plant at North Fork to see what level of turbidity the reservoir’s direct filtration system can handle, the city discovered it was able to filter and treat higher turbidity water than previously thought. Initially, the city said turbidity would have to drop to the 1.5-2.0 level before treatment began, but it realized via the pilot plant that it could treat water with NTU levels in the teens.
The three in-reservoir treatment applications at North Fork involved dispersing aluminum sulfate, a coagulant, and caustic soda, which regulates the water’s pH levels to ensure optimum coagulation and sinking of clay particles. The turbidity improved, but it has been slow going: It remained in the 20s through October before dropping into the teens in November.
The water coming to customers’ taps is potable now and has a very low turbidity level, about .1, the city said previously. That’s well under EPA requirements.
‘Seasonal flip” may help turbidity
On Monday, Chandler noted another phenomenon that could help with turbidity: “the seasonal flip.”
“So, when the water gets really cold, like it’s about to get because it’s really cold outside, it does exactly like the term ‘flip’ sounds. It takes everything that’s on or near the bottom and puts it near the top, and takes everything that’s at or near the top and puts it on the bottom,” Chandler said.
The city is fairly certain that a seasonal flip occurred at the Bee Tree Reservoir in the past few days.
“We believe that the reservoir at North Fork is going to do its seasonal flip sometime this week,” Chandler said Monday. “Bee Tree Reservoir did its seasonal flip, we are reasonably certain, last week, which drastically lowered the turbidity there — finally got it under 100 in the lower depths of the Bee Tree reservoir.”
It had stood near 500.
Bee Tree, located in Swannanoa, is much smaller than North Fork, but the seasonal flip results are encouraging for North Fork, Chandler said, because if the larger reservoir sees a similar shift, it could significantly lower turbidity.
The city announced it was awarding the contract to the Army Corps on Nov. 8. Chandler said the Corps is delivering the filtration system on time, “exactly fitting the timeline that they originally gave us.”
Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. John Boyle has been covering Asheville and surrounding communities since the 20th century. You can reach him at (828) 337-0941, or via email at jboyle@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/.
www.thecentersquare.com – By David Beasley | The Center Square contributor – (The Center Square – ) 2025-07-14 09:01:00
Dan Apple left college in 1990, halfway through his degree at UNC Greensboro, believing he could succeed without finishing. After building a career in business and family responsibilities, he regretted not completing his education. Today, at age 55, Apple has reenrolled through the UNC System’s partnership with ReUp Education, a program helping about 1 million North Carolinians who left college to return. Ten UNC universities participate, offering easy reentry and financial aid. Apple appreciates the modern online learning environment and is more committed now. Since 2023, over 600 students have earned degrees via ReUp, reflecting strong institutional support for adult learners.
(The Center Square) – In 1990, Dan Apple was more than halfway through his undergraduate education at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro when he decided to leave school for the workforce.
“I mistakenly thought that I knew everything and would be fine without finishing college,” Apple told The Center Square. “It didn’t take long to figure out that it wasn’t true. But by that time, I’ve had a wife, I had a kid, responsibilities. House payments.”
Apple, co-valedictorian of his high school class, did well in the business world without a degree, working first as a dispatcher for a trucking company and later owning a freight brokerage company. More recently, he has worked as a project manager for a precast concrete company.
As he grew older, Apple began to wish that he had finished college.
“Many of the people I deal with are engineers,” he said. “There are people with master’s in business administration degrees. There are lawyers. There is just a myriad of higher education that I am dealing with every day.”
He is not alone. There are an estimated 1 million North Carolinians who left college before earning their degree, according to the National Student Clearinghouse.
The University of North Carolina System is working with a company, ReUp Education, to help students like Apple return to college even decades after they left. Ten universities in the UNC System are participating, including UNC Greensboro, where Apple has reenrolled thanks to guidance from the program.
He expects to earn his degree by the end of this year at the age of 55.
“I sent in a request for information and within minutes I got an e-mail and we set up a time for a phone call,” Apple said. “It was a super easy process to get started. All my questions were answered immediately.”
His first class was a summer course in U.S. History. It was a lot different than the college classes he remembered.
“The world changed from 1990 to 2024,” he said. “There was no such thing as a laptop computer when I quit college. Now we are doing everything online.”
This time around, Apple has taken his college classes much more seriously than he did in the first round.
“I am a much better student than I ever was,” Apple said.
Shun Robertson, the system’s senior vice president for Policy and Strategy told the Center Square University System President Peter Hans has a “keen interest” in adult learners.
Since 2023, more than 600 North Carolina students have earned their degrees through the Reup program, Robertson said. The Legislature has funded financial aid options for the returning students as well.
“These are students who have already invested in their education but had to pause before completing their degree,” Robertson said. “ReUp gives us a proactive way to say, ‘We haven’t forgotten about you. We are going to help you finish what you started.”
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Centrist
This article primarily reports on an educational initiative without expressing a clear ideological stance. The content focuses on the personal story of a student returning to college and the University of North Carolina System’s program to support returning students. The language is factual and neutral, showcasing details such as the ease of re-enrollment, changes in education over time, and legislative support for financial aid. There is no evident framing or tone that favors a specific political ideology; rather, it highlights a nonpartisan effort to improve access to education for adults. Thus, the article adheres to neutral, factual reporting rather than promoting a particular political viewpoint.
SUMMARY: A bipartisan bill to prevent revenge porn passed the North Carolina House unanimously but was altered in the Senate by GOP leaders to include controversial culture war measures, such as banning certain school books and restricting transgender healthcare. Similarly, a bipartisan bill targeting property squatters was amended to block local regulation of puppy mills. These changes led Governor Stein to veto both bills. The article criticizes the Senate’s tactic of attaching divisive amendments to broadly supported legislation, urging GOP leaders to pursue conservative policies transparently rather than undermining bipartisan efforts.
www.thecentersquare.com – By Alan Wooten | The Center Square – (The Center Square – ) 2025-07-13 07:01:00
North Carolina Governor Josh Stein, a Democrat, vetoed two immigration-related bills: the Criminal Illegal Alien Enforcement Act and the North Carolina Border Protection Act. Both aim to enhance cooperation between local law enforcement and ICE, requiring sheriffs to detain illegal immigrants for up to 48 hours after notification and restricting public benefits for unauthorized immigrants. Republican lawmakers, holding majorities in both chambers, plan to override the vetoes, arguing these bills improve state security. Stein opposes them, citing constitutional concerns and the burden on law enforcement. Overriding a veto needs a three-fifths majority; Republicans are confident due to their legislative numbers.
(The Center Square) – Fifty-two of 104 vetoes in North Carolina’s last gubernatorial administration were overturned by the General Assembly.
Tests for first-term Democratic Gov. Josh Stein are on the way. He issued 14 in 20 days, and more than once Republican chamber leaders and their legions pledged overrides. Immigration policy is definitely a disagreement for the former top prosecutor in the state with history of multiple litigations filed against lawmakers and refusals to back them.
“Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill backs North Carolina law enforcement that works with ICE,” said Speaker Destin Hall, R-Caldwell, of the House of Representatives. But the governor “wants North Carolina to be left behind. The House will override his open border vetoes ASAP so we can make our state safer.”
The Criminal Illegal Alien Enforcement Act (House Bill 318) and North Carolina Border Protection Act (Senate Bill 153) were two vetoes from the former state attorney general.
“One of the main ways ICE does its job is in local jails,” Hall said. “So, when people are here illegally and they’re charged with crimes, ICE works with local sheriffs to detain and then deport those folks. Unfortunately, in our state right now, we have a small number of sheriffs who are completely refusing to cooperate with ICE, as insane as that may sound.
“So, we’ve taken action here at the General Assembly. We passed a bill making it clear sheriffs have to cooperate with ICE.”
Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, has had similar statements from the upper chamber.
“He’d rather prioritize his far-left donors and their dangerous open-border policies over the citizens of North Carolina who are desperately pleading for us to put an end to the illegal immigration crisis,” Berger said of Stein. “I look forward to the Senate overriding his veto.”
The Criminal Illegal Alien Enforcement Act enhances cooperation with lawmen in the state and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Local law enforcement could not release the suspect until 48 hours after ICE is notified.
Litigation is anticipated if the override happens.
“I cannot sign this bill because it would require sheriffs to unconstitutionally detain people for up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released,” Stein said in his veto message. “The 4th Circuit is clear that local law enforcement officers cannot keep people in custody solely based on a suspected immigration violation.”
The North Carolina Border Protection Act would give protection to taxpayer dollars through eligibility assurances for state-funded public benefits such as housing tax credits, child care subsidies and caregiver support. The Office of State Budget and Management, if the bill becomes law, would determine if unauthorized immigrants are receiving such benefits.
The North Carolina Border Protection Act would instruct memorandums of agreement to be extended to the director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from the state’s law enforcement agencies – Department of Public Safety, Department of Adult Correction, State Highway Patrol, and the State Bureau of Investigation. Each would be lawfully ordered to determine immigration status of any person in custody.
“Senate Bill 153 would make us less safe,” Stein said. “At a time when our law enforcement is already stretched thin, this bill takes state law enforcement officers away from their existing state duties and forces them to act as federal immigration agents. Furthermore, under current law, people without lawful immigration status already are prevented from receiving Medicaid, SNAP, Section 8 and other benefits.”
In response, Hall said in a statement, “Governor Stein has made one thing clear today: he stands with criminal illegal aliens and the most radical elements of his party’s base over the safety and security of North Carolinians. Make no mistake, the NC House will override the Governor’s veto at the earliest opportunity.”
Overturning a gubernatorial veto requires three-fifths majority in each chamber. Republican majorities are 30-20 in the Senate and 71-49 in the House. Rep. Carla Cunningham, D-Mecklenburg, was the lone member of her party in either chamber to support either bill, providing an aye on the Criminal Illegal Alien Enforcement Act.
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Right-Leaning
The article presents a clear ideological perspective aligned with conservative and Republican viewpoints. It emphasizes Republican criticism of Democratic Governor Josh Stein, framing his vetoes as opposing public safety and favoring “criminal illegal aliens” and “radical elements” of the Democratic base. The language used by quoted Republican officials is charged and partisan, portraying the governor negatively while supporting stricter immigration enforcement bills. Although the article includes direct quotes from the governor opposing the bills on constitutional and resource grounds, the overall framing, selection of sources, and tone suggest a right-leaning bias favoring the GOP position on immigration policy in North Carolina.
