Asheville approves two new contracts aimed at stabilizing water access
ASHEVILLE - City Council approved two multimillion-dollar contracts July 29 to sustain operations of temporary water pretreatment systems at reservoirs left vulnerable after Tropical Storm Helene.
The continuation of the temporary system, which reduces turbidity, and eventual installation of a permanent solution, are a "critical need" following the storm. Helene knocked out Asheville's water system in September, leaving its 160,000 customers without potable water for seven weeks.
“It’s no mystery that it would not take an event nearly as severe as Helene to put our treatment systems at risk — to drive turbidity up in both of those reservoirs to the point where we would have to completely rely on the temporary pretreatment systems that are already operating," Water Resources Department spokesperson Clay Chandler told the Citizen Times.
The systems are a "needed redundancy," according to a staff report. They have been operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at two city water treatment plants for months and funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. But that contract ends Aug. 9 at North Fork, in Black Mountain, east of Asheville, which serves the majority of the system, and Aug. 18 at William DeBruhl, a smaller plant in Swannanoa.
Keeping those systems in place is "absolutely paramount," Chandler said.
Asheville City Council's unanimous July 29 vote, included as part of its consent agenda, authorizes the city manager to enter into a $36.9 million contract with CDM Smith Inc., headquartered in Boston, to take over operations of the North Fork pretreatment system. A separate $18.8 million contract authorizes Bering-Weston JB, LLC. to do the same at William DeBruhl.
The city has applied for funding through FEMA's Public Assistance program, which provides supplemental grants to local governments impacted by disasters.
Chandler said the city does not have a timeline for when funding might be awarded. Alternative funding sources could include the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
Also included as part of the consent agenda were two more contracts, totaling $10 million, to begin engineering, design services and construction oversight for a permanent pretreatment system, which would likely carry a $150 million to $200 million price tag, the Citizen Times reported previously. Buildout could take up to five years. The cost is expected to be reimbursed with a combination of federal and state funding.
The turbidity of water at North Fork water plant, fed by Burnett Reservoir, is back to pre-storm levels, but the city has cautioned that the watershed is still extremely vulnerable to any moderate to severe weather events.
"We have a different watershed now," Chandler said. Downed trees and vegetative debris surrounding the reservoirs means an increase in sediment entering its typically pristine waters. It will begin to drop after a year, "assuming we don't have anything else that adds to it," he said.
In the face of that vulnerability, aside from day-to-day operations, increased resiliency is the department's top priority, Chandler said.
He pointed out that the "heart" of hurricane season begins in August. "We’re kind of entering the ‘belly of the beast,’ so to speak," Chandler said.
Sarah Honosky is the city government reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the Paste BN Network. News Tips? Email shonosky@citizentimes.com or message on Twitter at @slhonosky.