About 75 to 80 percent of Asheville’s water customers again have city water, albeit a non-potable variety that has sedimentation in it.

At the Wednesday morning daily Helene briefing, Asheville Water Resources spokesperson Clay Chandler gave that estimate on restoration to the system’s 63,000 customers, with the caveat that pockets of customers still remain without water. Chandler presented a map showing water had returned to all areas of the city, although a system-wide boil water notice remains in effect.

“Obviously, that service will expand as the system pressurizes and tanks fill and pump stations start operating,” Chandler said. “So while that map looks pretty full, it is not meant to denote that every single person in that service area has service. That is meant to represent that substantial service has returned to those areas.”

Areas at higher elevations in particular will take longer to return to service, Chandler said. Often the tanks that feed homes at higher elevations are also higher up, and the city relies on pump stations to move the water from lower elevations up to the tanks and the homes at higher elevations.

“And we can’t just flip the switch on those, because there’s a lot of air in those water lines that has to be bled off,” Chandler said. “If we turn on a pump station and there’s a lot of air in the water line, it’ll burn it up. And those things are extremely expensive and extremely difficult to replace.”

The return to potable water will take longer, but Chandler said steps were being put in place Wednesday to help clear up the murky water at the city’s primary reservoir, North Fork, in the Black Mountain area. Essentially, the lake was “flipped upside down” from the torrential rains of Sept. 27, leaving it murky from suspended clay particles.

Several large containers of a treatment mineral, aluminum sulfate, arrived at North Fork this week and workers were to begin treating the raw lake water with it today. Aluminum sulfate is a “salt-ish” mineral the department uses in regular treatment of the lake water, as it makes clay particles coagulate and sink, leading to clearer water for filtering and treatment. 

The water department also will treat the raw water with additional amounts of caustic soda – another chemical it regularly uses – which regulates the water’s pH level so the aluminum sulfate can work most effectively as a coagulant.

Asked if the increased chemical usage could cause problems with lead leaching into the system, Chandler said no.

“I don’t think there’s any concerns, just because, again, we use these two chemicals in our normal treatment processes,” Chandler said. “I will say, however,  that the EPA has asked for and we are putting together a lead testing plan, again, out of an abundance of caution, and I think we’ve got that plan submitted to them. If we haven’t, we will shortly, and it will be implemented almost immediately upon them signing off on it.”

Chandler said that during normal treatment processes, the aluminum sulfate/caustic soda application ranges between 3 and 4 parts per million. For the ongoing in-reservoir treatment, the application will be about 10 parts per million.

“While that sounds like a shocking increase, there is some context to keep in mind,” Chandler said, noting that reservoirs with normally high turbidity routinely require treatments at 10 parts per million and higher. “Some drinking water reservoirs susceptible to things like industrial/commercial runoff can reach as high as 60 parts per million.

“We know that the water contents do not meet EPA safe drinking limits for turbidity. No one should drink or otherwise consume it directly from the tap.”

Expect a brown tint in water at first

The water the city is sending out now is heavily chlorinated but will initially have a brown tint in people’s homes, mainly from suspended clay particles, Chandler said. The water department recommends flushing the water for about 15 minutes through an outdoor hose or the bathtub.

“It’s worth noting that we test at more than 40 sites throughout the system daily,” Chandler said. “We sample for chlorine levels, coliform, E. coli, and manganese, among others. The results have been well within parameters set by our regulators. The one exception is chlorine, only because we’re hyper-chlorinating so we can provide service until the turbidity issue at North Fork is resolved.”

Earlier in the week the city said it had committed to installing a “curtain” system in the 350-acre lake, near the intakes to the water treatment facility. The curtains, which also will help control sedimentation entering the intakes, are on order, Chandler said.

“Of course, those curtains are sourced from Florida, and Florida’s had a couple of things to deal with in the last couple of weeks,” Chandler said, referring to hurricanes Helene and Milton that struck the state. “So the curtains haven’t arrived yet, but we have made the decision to go ahead and start treating the area immediately around the intake of North Fork, and we will move out from there.”

The city decided not to wait on the curtains because “it could be a few days, or a couple of weeks before they get here,” Chandler said. “But they’ll be in place at some point.”

The sediment comes from forest debris from the watershed, Chandler said, and is mostly fine sand, silt, and clay.

Helene dropped a deluge of rainfall in the Black Mountain/Swannanoa area, and that washed out the two main distribution lines coming out of North Fork, as well as a bypass line that serves as a backup.

The city and its contractors worked around the clock to restore the bypass line, which can feed the whole system, as well as numerous distribution lines that washed out, mostly in the Swannanoa area. Water started returning earlier this week to the 80 percent of customers who had been without it.

Normally, North Fork and its 22,000-acre mostly forested watershed provide the reservoir with fairly pristine water. Returning it to that state is a key to bringing back potable water to customers, as North Fork serves about 80 percent of the city’s system.

The city’s Mills River plant is serving the remaining 20 percent, as the third facility, Bee Tree reservoir in Swannanoa, remains out of commission because of Helene damage.

Still no timeline for potable water’s return

The city has not offered a timeline for a return to potable water, other than to consistently say it will be “weeks.”

As far as areas that remained without water, Chandler specifically mentioned the Eastmoor Neighborhood and the Bee Tree area, both in eastern Buncombe County. The storm washed out a 6-inch line that serves Eastmoor.

Contractors from TP Howard arrived there Wednesday to begin installing a temporary line that will provide reduced water pressure to 75 homes in the area while a permanent water pipe is put in place, the city said in a daily summary. Lower elevation homes will receive service before homes in the higher elevations. After flushing sediment, homes in the lower elevations should employ water conservation measures to ensure homes in higher elevations can receive water, the city said. 

In the Bee Tree area, a water pipe that serves about 40 homes “will require backfilling for stabilization before it can handle water pressure,” the city said, noting crews should complete that work late today or early Thursday.

The city reminds its customers that a “boil water notice” remains in effect for all customers, including those in southern Buncombe served by Mills River plant. The city says it’s being done “out of an abundance of caution, as North Fork is online and there are zones, especially along the service boundaries, where water from the two plants can potentially mix.”

The city also offered this advice: 

Any water intended for consumption — drinking, cooking, brushing teeth — should be boiled for at least one minute beforehand. Water out of the tap is safe for handwashing (unless hands are being cleaned for food preparation), showering (be careful not to swallow water while showering) and laundry. The water is safe for washing dishes, as long as a dishwasher’s temperature reaches a minimum of 170 degrees, which typically happens when the “sanitize” setting is activated.

You can find a comprehensive list of frequently asked questions here.

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/.

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