Asheville leaders ditch timeline for full water restoration; number without water unknown
ASHEVILLE - Six days into a water outage that has affected tens of thousands of people, city leaders rolled back expectations for when full service would return and said that they had no estimate to provide for how many people are going without it.
Mayor Esther Manheimer called the outage — unprecedented in the number of people affected — a "crisis" at a Dec. 30 press conference.
"We know this is a crisis situation," she said. "We are working as fast as possible. For many this is more than just an inconvenience, and we understand that. This is an emergency that needs to be addressed because water is vital to folks and the functioning of their lives, and we understand that. I want to make sure that's clear, that we understand the urgency of this situation."
At a press conference earlier in the week, on Dec. 28, city leaders said they hoped and expected for full water service to gradually return over the next 48 hours. But the 48 hours came and went, with many still without water at press time.
"I don't think there is," Manheimer said Dec. 30 when asked if the city had a new estimate for when full service would be restored. "Our 48-hour mark is 4 o'clock today. I think we're still hopeful that we'll see a majority of folks, but we don't want to promise that because the usage has fluctuated, the usage is changing how much pressure is in the system — whether or not people are seeing a drip and then they lose it, or they get constant flow and then they lose it. So, we want to be careful in saying that because the last thing you want to do is say it's going to happen by this exact mark, and then it doesn't. That's a very frustrating experience."
The more encouraging news, she said, was that customers were coming back online and that the water system was "recharging."
"That effort is constant and ongoing, and it is in progress," she said. "We're not seeing any reason why that will stop happening. That is the good news. It's just a matter of time at this point."
Manheimer said at a second press conference that she has not taken steps to enact a local state of emergency because the city is already under one for North Carolina, which went into effect Dec. 20. The state of emergency was for low temperatures across the state, and will last for 30 days.
On the morning of Dec. 28, the city said that over 38,000 people were without full water service. But it was not clear how many were still going without water on Dec. 30.
"It's much easier to talk about geography," Manheimer said, adding that gathering information house-by-house with the smart meter system in place requires "literally driving by and picking up that data." That system will be updated so that it can be checked more easily, she said.
In place of a number, the city has an online map showing where there are system interruptions, where service has been restored or restoration is in progress, where water service has not been interrupted and where water is provided by a private company.
Residents asked for a map of the outage early on, and the city shared one Dec. 29. But frustrations have still mounted as residents have said that the map does not distinguish whether restoration is in progress or completed.
Past reporting:Update: Water is being restored to southern areas of Asheville, city says
More:Almost 40K people were without water in Asheville area; service is returning
More:Asheville-area communities without water as city faces line breaks, other issues
After the press conference, Water Resources Director David Melton said it could be chalked up to "the complexity of the system."
Water "takes time to get to the end, and it takes time to get uphill," he said. "So, that's why we're doing the pink area (on the map) as either restored or in progress. The water is on the way, but it may not quite be there yet, just based on the complexity of our water system."
Water troubles started when basins in the Mills River Intake "froze over" and the plant stopped producing water Christmas Eve, Melton has said. In addition, the city has pointed to cold temperatures over several back-to-back days that led to leaks, and usage that they characterized as unusually high.
City leaders said that they had been in touch with the state and the county "to make sure any unmet needs would be met" if the city found itself short on resources. That has not happened yet, they said.
"Local municipalities, once we feel that we may not be able to meet our emergency needs, we make sure that the county is fully aware, standing by and ready to assist," Fire Chief Scott Burnette said after the press conference. "Similarly, once the county is unable to meet those local emergency needs, the state is standing by, and all that is in place. As of right now, we don't have any unmet emergency needs. We are able to provide emergency drinking water to everybody."
The same idea applies with any resource, and not just drinking water, he said.
The Fire Department and other city agencies continue to deliver drinking water, although the number to call will change starting Dec. 31. City employees had brought water to 1,200 people unable to get it on their own as of the afternoon of Dec. 30, Burnette said. Over the weekend, residents unable to get water on their own can call 828-251-1122 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.
The city said in a Dec. 30 news release that parts of the following areas came "online" since the night of Dec. 29:
Old Heywood Road in Arden (not to be mistaken with Old Haywood Road).
Glenbridge Road and the Old Shoals area.
Concord Road from Mills Gap to Keswick, including Emma Grove.
The Devonshire area.
Emma Grove.
Oak Forest along Long Shoals and Harrison Ford Road.
Together, all three of the city's production facilities are producing 28 million gallons a day as pressure in the water system continues to rise, recharging waterlines. The downed water plant began fully operating again on Dec. 28, Melton has said.
For the western part of Buncombe County, the city has is using a water pump to speed up restoration, Melton said.
Crews with the Buncombe County Metropolitan Sewerage District have been helping with repairs since Dec. 30.
Customers in the western area will get their water last, Melton said.
"The way the system operates, the western part went down last," he said. "So, it's going to be the last to come up. We have tanks out in that area that have to be filled so we can pump to the higher elevations. ... Plus we've got demand pulling off of it in-between because it's at the end of our water system. But the elevation is the biggest factor in ... being able to get the water there."
Some people in the southern area remain under a boil water advisory. Manheimer reiterated that residents should receive an alert when that advisory has been lifted.
Later in the afternoon, at the top of Roger Farmer Memorial Park in West Asheville, in an asphalt lot just off Deaverview Road, city water resources crews were working Dec. 30 amid the strain of the outage.
According to the city's water outage map, the park is within a sprawling section of Asheville experiencing interruption, which stretches from sections of Georgetown, down through Deaverview and out to Pole Creek and further south.
In a muddy lot still slick with patches of ice, amid a mechanical whir, a large green pump was hooked to two hydrants. In a flurry of constant movement, what was five Water Resources Department trucks shrunk to two.
Onsite crews declined to comment, reiterating that all information must pass through the city's communications office.
The city has said that it will provide updates on the water shortage over the weekend. In the meantime, it is again asking residents who have water to use it conservatively.
City Reporter Sarah Honosky contributed.
Ryan Oehrli covers public safety for the Citizen-Times. Comments? Questions? Tips? Send them to coehrli@citizentimes.com.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Asheville leaders ditch water restoration timeline as work continues
