'Cross your fingers': Second round of water treatment begins, a month after Helene

A second round of chemical treatment of the water in the North Fork Reservoir is under way, as turbidity continues to be the major issue following the flooding caused by Tropical Storm Helene just over a month ago.

Clay Chandler, a spokesperson for the Asheville Water Department, gave an update on the water at the Oct. 28 Buncombe County briefing. He said the current turbidity is 23.3.

"That is down from 26 we had last week, so that's in a span of a week. We are making progress," he said.

Chandler said the target is between 1.5 to 2 NTUs (Nephelometric Turbidity Units) to begin normal treatment and filtration process to put potable water back into the system.

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He said another positive update to report was that the curtains, which are designed to help treat the water, arrived and were being installed on Monday morning.

"Once the curtains are installed, we will have a secondary application zone that will be 70 feet wide. We will input one full tote of alum and not quite a full tote of costic," he said.

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The totes are 300 gallons each, Chandler said. He said crews are hoping to see the turbidity decrease quicker once these treatments are performed.

"Cross your fingers. Send all the good energy you can muster," he said.

Chandler said he still wasn't able to give a timetable as to when potable water would be flowing once again in the pipes.