Asheville News

Too much water, or not enough?

Jason Sandford April 12, 2008

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

Ok, let me see if I’ve got this straight:

First, the Southeast, and the state of North Carolina, remains in a prolonged drought. A severe drought. We’re dry. Last year was the driest year on record at Lake Fontana in 118 years. Right?

But on Tuesday, Asheville’s water system director told City Council there’s no more need for voluntary water restrictions. This comes six months after the city made me feel guilty for washing my car, watering my lawn or brushing my teeth with the water running.

The city’s water director went so far as to say that Asheville has too much water. That’s right. The city is going to release a bunch of water from the North Fork Reservoir because it’s a half foot about its full level. That reservoir holds 6 billion gallons of water. But it’s too full. It could pose a flooding risk if we get more rain. So the city’s going to drain some off.

But before you think you’ve got a bead on all this, hold on. The city, in its news release on Friday, said people shouldn’t take all this to mean they can go hog wild with water.

“While conditions in our area have recently improved, the city still encourages everyone to be mindful of our water source — not just here but in the surrounding counties and states,” Water Resources Director David Hanks said in the release.

So, you following all that?

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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3 Comments

Clocky April 16, 2008

As for the past year or so, Asheville’s reservoir was always in pretty good shape. When WLOS goes on the air and tells folks to conserve water, they’re talking to the couchbound of most of WNC. A lot of those folks are on wells. Still, some of those wells are in bad shape.

Has the City of Aaheville made efforts in the past year to get people to conserve? I don’t recall. But, generally, it’s a good idea to conserve water. Say you learn to get by with a bit less water while you live in Asheville. Someday, you might live on property where you take your water from a well, or you might live in a place where the muni system is truly going dry. Then you might be glad that you don’t "need" so much water on a daily/monthly basis.

Or (and I think this truly might happen) Asheville might stretch its pipes out so far that it’s serving a much larger population than it does today. Then watch out. Our reservoir is adequate for the population we serve now, but we would be asking for trouble to try to serve nearly everybody in Bunc. Cty who currently draws from a well. "City water" already goes to homes FAR outside the city limits.

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ashevillein April 14, 2008

Reflect back on why we have that reservoir at all. There were elements who wanted to develop that valley, turn it into another Reems Creek area.
But no.
Some people stood up and stopped it.
Now we have a great watershed, and everyone wants it.
Good thing Atlanta is uphill from us, and the dry Piedmont is over the Mountains.
Asheville water for Asheville. Other places that used no foresight can suffer.

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James April 13, 2008

I think the city telling folks not to go wild with water use to keep the Governor and state officals happy who asked Asheville not to end the conservation measures because the rest of the state is not in as good of shape. The conservation measures that were in place last summer were at the request of the Governors office.

If you do not release some of the water then you run the risk of having flooding and broken pipes and no water like we had after the huricanes, remember?

All in all I do think its a stupid idea to drain off some of the water. It should be sold to others who need it to make up some of the lost revenue so additional repairs can be made to the system.

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