News from the South - North Carolina News Feed
Utility crews anticipate days before many have power restored
SUMMARY: Approximately 500,000 people in North Carolina are still without power, primarily in Western North Carolina, including over 100,000 in Buncombe County alone. Utility crews are working tirelessly to restore power, but challenging weather conditions and damage from storms, such as snapped lines and flooded substations, are complicating their efforts. Accessing certain areas has become difficult due to landslides and washed-out infrastructure, which may delay restoration for days, especially for North Carolina Electric Co-op customers. Restoration efforts prioritize essential services, but damaged homes and infrastructure must be assessed and repaired first. Courage and teamwork are vital as crews continue their work.
It may take several days for North Carolina Electric Coop customers to have their power restored, as landslides and washouts are causing further delays.
News from the South - North Carolina News Feed
As North Fork turbidity improves, Asheville also pursues Army Corps of Engineers filtration plan โข Asheville Watchdog
As the murkiness of North Fork Reservoir continues to improve โ some residents noticed clearer tap water over the weekend โ the City of Asheville is pursuing a filtration plan from the Army Corps of Engineers that could be in place by the end of the month.
โSome good news is Water Resources now has a second option at its disposal for treating the turbid water at North Fork reservoir,โ city Water Reources Department spokesperson Clay Chandler said at the Monday Buncombe County Helene briefing. โThe U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is in the early stages of implementing an alternative treatment project that could possibly โ and I want to stress possibly โ be operational in very late November, very early December. That’s based on information the Corps of Engineers has given us.โ
The city has installed turbidity-reducing curtains in North Fork, which supplies 80 percent of Asheville’s drinking water, and it has completed two rounds of treatment with aluminum sulfate and caustic soda, which cause coagulation of sediments and reduce sedimentation. That allowed the city to put 10 million to 15 million gallons of treated water a day into Asheville’s system over the weekend, which likely accounted for the clearer water customers say they saw over the weekend, Chandler said.
The Corps of Engineers system will rely on mobile treatment units, which will be staged at North Fork in a clearing above the dam. The exact number of the units, which Chandler described as โgenerally shaped like a shipping container,โ and precise layout are still being determined. He said the city hopes the system is operational by early December.
โWe will pursue this option concurrently with the in-reservoir treatment process, and we’re absolutely not giving up on that, not by any means,โ Chandler said. โAnd it’s possible that the in-reservoir treatment process clears up the lake enough for us to start treating water on a very large scale before the Corps of Engineers system is even operational.โ
At the briefing, Chandler said the reservoir’s turbidity had dropped to 18.5 by Monday morning, down from 21.2 on Oct. 31. Measured in Nephelometric Turbidity Units (NTUs), turbidity needs to hit about 1.5-2.0 for the city to be able to fully treat the water to make it potable.
Chandler stressed that the Corps of Engineers’ plan is a construction project, so weather, equipment procurement and other variables could cause delays. Planning started Oct. 1.
Despite the variables, Chandler said, โWe are very, very hopeful and optimistic that by early December, based on the information that we have right now, that system will be operational.โ
The goal is to reach a capacity of 25 million gallons of treatable water a day.
โThat’s enough to keep the system pressurized and provide flushing capacity,โ Chandler said, referring to clearing the system of non-potable water. โThe flushing part of this is going to be very, very important.โ
Once the city starts pushing out nothing but potable water into the system, โwe’re going to have to completely replace the water in the tanks and our main transmission and all auxiliary transmission lines,โ Chandler said.
That process will take a couple of weeks.
System flush, testing must happen before boil water notice can be lifted
โI think the latest timeline we have for that is two and a half to three weeks, so even though we start pushing potable water, that does not mean that the boil water notice will be lifted immediately,โ Chandler said. โWe will have to again flush the system and perform some extensive back-end testing before we can lift that boil water notice.โ
The entire system, which serves 63,000 residential and commercial customers, remains under a boil water notice. The tap water available now is safe for showering and flushing commodes, but bottled water is recommended for consumption.
Chandler stressed that the Corps of Engineers’ installation timeline may change. The federal agency is in the process of procuring materials, equipment and personnel.
โOver the next couple of weeks, equipment, materials and personnel will begin arriving at North Fork for construction and setup,โ Chandler said. โOnce construction and setup begins, the contract’s terms will require the contractor who’s going to do all this work to work for 24 hours a day until the system is operational. So we’re trying our best to move this process along as quickly as possible.โ
A third round of aluminum sulfate/caustic soda treatment is planned. The city will give the second round more time to work, so the third round will likely take place Monday or Tuesday of next week.
โI want to emphasize again, it is important to note that the in-reservoir treatment process could clear up the reservoir before the Corps of Engineers project is operational,โ Chandler said. โHowever, to maximize redundancy, we are going to pursue the Corps of Engineers project regardless. And keeping that system in place until we have the upgraded filters that we’ve been seeking is a possibility that we’re going to pursue.โ
FEMA will pay for the Corps of Engineers system, but the cost was not available at the briefing.
North Fork, which opened in 1955, uses a โdirect filtrationโ system designed for extremely pure water, which the reservoir normally delivers, mainly because of its pristine 20,000-acre wooded watershed. The system cannot handle higher turbidity.
Plates can filter out stubborn sedimentation
The Corps of Engineers systems works with a system of โsedimentation platesโ that removes sediment. The lake sediment is mostly very fine clay particles that have stubbornly remained in suspension, and the plates can filter that out.
โTo simplify that, it will basically remove not 100 percent but pretty close to 100 percent of the sediment that’s in the water, which is what’s causing it to be turbid right now,โ Chandler said.
Chandler said previously that installing a permanent filtration system designed for high turbidity would cost the city more than $100 million. The city does have a โfilter upgrade wish listโ for North Fork and its other reservoir, Bee Tree in Swannanoa.
โEssentially, if we were to get that project funded, the technology that we would be using at that point is the same technology that the Corps of Engineers will use with their system,โ Chandler said. โWe would absolutely love to keep this Corps of Engineers system in place until those filter upgrades are made. And if it’s up to us, we will. It’s not completely up to us, though, but we’re going to make that case.โ
Asheville City Councilmember Maggie Ullman broke the news about the Corps of Engineers equipment installation and timeline in a Friday Instagram post. Chandler addressed the county briefing the day before but didn’t mention the Corps of Engineers plan.
โIt became viable Wednesday night and made its way down to me after the briefing on Thursday,โ Chandler said. โWe didn’t have a community briefing until today. There was no immediate deadline for any kind of action or anything like that, so we felt comfortable waiting until today to detail it.โ
He noted that the timeline was provided by the Corps of Engineers, not the city, which has steadfastly refused to offer a timeline on potential potable water restoration other than to say it is weeks away.
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. To show your support for this vital public service go to avlwatchdog.org/support-our-publication/.
Related
The post As North Fork turbidity improves, Asheville also pursues Army Corps of Engineers filtration plan โข Asheville Watchdog appeared first on avlwatchdog.org
News from the South - North Carolina News Feed
Duke professor dives into early voting numbers
SUMMARY: In North Carolina, both presidential campaigns are focused on swaying the remaining voters as over 57% have already cast ballots. Political expert Matt McCor suggests candidates should emphasize unity and positive messaging about the state. He predicts Attorney General Stein is likely to win the gubernatorial race, but questions whether it will be by the margins indicated in polls. A strong win for Stein could signal success for Democrats in down-ballot races. He also notes that while young voters (18-29) are not voting in large numbers, those who did often lean Democratic, though trends vary outside of college campuses.
Pope ‘Mac’ McCorkle is with the school’s Sanford School of Public Policy.
More: abc11.com
Watch: https://abc11.com/watch/live/11065013/
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ABC11/
X: https://twitter.com/ABC11_WTVD
TIKTOK: https://www.tiktok.com/@abc11_eyewitnessnews
News from the South - North Carolina News Feed
Election security concerns in final days of 2024 campaign
SUMMARY: Ahead of Tuesday’s final vote, the FBI has issued an urgent warning about disinformation, identifying at least two fake videos circulating online that falsely claim to be from the agency. These videos, believed to be created by foreign state actors, particularly Russian trolls, aim to undermine trust in American elections and foster division among citizens. One video inaccurately claims that groups were arrested for rigging mail-in ballots, while another targets Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff. The FBI emphasized that the content is false and not produced by them, highlighting ongoing concerns regarding foreign interference in the electoral process.
In the final hours of the campaign, local officials across the country are taking extraordinary steps to protect election workers and …
-
Kaiser Health News7 days ago
Vance Wrongly Blames Rural Hospital Closures on Immigrants in the Country Illegally
-
News from the South - Georgia News Feed6 days ago
Co-defendant takes plea deal in YSL RICO trial | FOX 5 News
-
Mississippi News Video6 days ago
Free Clinic of Meridian Celebrates 10 Years
-
News from the South - Arkansas News Feed6 days ago
Buc-eeโs set to open second Arkansas location
-
News from the South - North Carolina News Feed6 days ago
FBI arrests NC man known as 'AK Guru' who is accused of selling hundreds of machine guns
-
Our Mississippi Home6 days ago
A New Deep Sea Remotely Operated Vehicle Coming to USM
-
News from the South - Alabama News Feed3 days ago
“There is a man here trying to use your ID” Suspect caught in Elberta using stolen ID at victims wor
-
Mississippi News Video6 days ago
Macon enacts Halloween curfew