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Mayor urges Asheville residents to conserve water and prepare for possible extended water outages

Mayor urges Asheville residents to conserve water and prepare for possible extended water outages

Vaseline 2 months ago

Mayor Esther Manheimer spoke to News 13 on Sunday, September 29, about the devastation left in the mountains here by Hurricane Helene.

She said this has been a devastating and unprecedented storm situation, and she is grateful for the help the community has provided each other through this. She said she knows water is the biggest issue many people are concerned about and that it is the city’s job to get the water supply up and running.

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The Mills River plant in south Asheville is functioning and some people have water supplies in south Asheville.

She has asked people with water to continue filling the bathtubs and ensure they have water available in case more outages occur.

For people in the northern part of the city and customers outside the city limits — those served by the North Fork plant — it’s still a work in progress. There are also problems reaching the site as the roads have been washed away, she said.

Manheimer said they are using every resource to get the water going again and that an incredible amount of effort has gone into restoring this service.

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The problem, she said, is that they are seeing a loss of supply lines all the way to Asheville, so work is underway to restore that.

We don’t want people to assume this is going to happen anytime soon. We need to make sure people understand that this is something they need to plan for the long term. They have to save water for drinking, for flushing toilets, for things like that. Don’t assume this will end anytime soon,” she said.

She said while she hopes this isn’t the case, people should keep in mind it may take several weeks for a full recovery.

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The city has asked residents to register for this AVL warningsthe best way to stay informed about restoration efforts. There are also city workers who go out into the community and hand out information pages.

She said she had to remember that the city is also still under a curfew from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. The city will be part of the next district briefing, scheduled for Monday, September 30 at 10 a.m. .