The holiday season is upon us. That also means it is the winter weather season. The City of Asheville’s Water Resources Department stands staffed and ready to respond to customer needs throughout the holiday season
Water Resources personnel have completed cold-weather mitigation measures at our treatment plants including:
- Replumbing and insulating chemical feed lines
- Resealing and adding heat tape to valve actuators
- Replacing air relief valves
Water Resources staff takes seriously the Independent Review Committee’s recommendations made in response to last year’s outage, and has either implemented them or is in the process of doing so.
Tasks in progress include:
- Onboarding a dedicated valve crew, which to date has inspected more than 100 large main transmission valves.
- Contracting with an engineering firm to evaluate the feasibility of reviving a dormant pump station.
- Increased engineering support in water production, including a budget request for next fiscal year for a dedicated Production Engineer.
- Personnel are completing several stages of advanced, ongoing emergency response training, including quarterly “table-top” exercises that enhance the department’s and community’s overall effectiveness at responding to emergencies .
Fully implementing the IRC recommendations as quickly as possible is a critical part of our mission to reliably and efficiently provide safe, clean water to our customers.
The full list of recommendations and their current status can be viewed here.