ASHEVILLE, N.C. – As part of the recovery efforts following Hurricane Helene, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is finalizing construction of a system to reduce turbidity and remove sediment in the water of Burnett Reservoir, near Asheville, North Carolina.
The system will increase filtration capacity at the North Fork Water Treatment Plant benefiting over 100,000 residents in the area and resulting in a more robust system for future events.
The aftermath of Hurricane Helene included historic rainfalls of more than 30 inches of water, which created floods and landslides and caused damage to Asheville’s primary and secondary water systems. As a result, residents from western North Carolina were under a boil water advisory as water treatment systems were compromised. The city of Asheville Water Resources Department lifted the boil advisory on November 18 after nearly two months.
“The importance of the work USACE is doing in these facility plants relays in increasing capacity of the water filtration plants in the area in order to bring them to full capacity, minimize the need of a future water restriction and to avoid any situation if turbidity goes up,” said Heath Jones, USACE New Orleans emergency manager deployed to North Carolina as the Task Force Water lead. “We are also making the system more resilient to prevent a similar situation if another rain event occurs.”
The water treatment process, known as a dissolved air flotation system, works by injecting air into the water under pressure. This forms bubbles that bind with the sediment and causes it to separate from the water and where it then is removed. The system is used to remove a diverse range of pollutants including organic matter. It has also been used in other locations to remove hydrocarbons from the oil and gas industry, as well as minerals and metals from the mining industry, among others.
“Our mission at the Burnett Reservoir Turbidity Reduction System project is to reduce the sediments in the water by pulling water from the reservoir and run it through the dissolved air flotation system that pushes the debris to the top where it can be retrieved,” said Tyler Baggett, USACE New Orleans District civil engineer and contracting officer representative for this project. “The clean water is then sent back into the North Fork Water Treatment Plant so they can continue with the regular process."
USACE is working in partnership with local, state and federal agencies, to include the Federal Emergency Management Agency, in response to the historic flooding from Hurricane Helene. Additional efforts include removing debris from the city of Asheville, Buncombe, Polk and McDowell counties, as well as Lake Lure and the North Carolina Arboretum.
USACE story by Jennifer K. Garcia Torres
-30-
| Date Taken: | 11.21.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 11.22.2024 08:40 |
| Story ID: | 485911 |
| Location: | NORTH CAROLINA, US |
| Web Views: | 74 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, US Army Corps of Engineers improves Asheville, North Carolina’s Water Treatment System following Hurricane Helene, by Patrick Moes, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
