From Staff Reports

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The city’s temporary pretreatment systems at the North Fork and William DeBruhl water treatment plants will remain in place through Nov. 30 with continued funding support from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the city said in an Oct. 7 news release.

Water Resources Department spokesperson Clay Chandler said in the relase that the systems will start demobilizing Dec. 1 — and be taken offsite.

They were installed after Tropical Storm Helene wreaked havoc on the city’s water system, leaving it more vulnerable to future storms. Chandler said they provided a “layer of redundancy,” ensuring that if another storm spiked turbidity in the city’s reservoirs, meaning the cloudiness caused by sediment and debris, water would continue to be filtered — rather than pumping non-potable, highly chlorinated water into the system.

The Asheville Citizen Times reported on Oct. 8 that “funding was previously only secured for the systems through the end of September. The city said it would continue to negotiate with FEMA for funding that would keep them there as long as possible.”

Chandler said in the release, “Our watershed is still vulnerable,” though not as unprotected as it was in Helene’s immediate aftermath, with the forest given some time to heal, and debris removal beginning at the Burnett Reservoir, which feeds the North Fork plant.

Debris removal at DeBruhl will take place eventually, although no timetable has been set. Support would end along with the year’s hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30.