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Balkcom presents $14.75 million check for utility plant improvement

Wastewater Treatment Facilities Manager Garrett DeMoss, Rep. Jennifer Balkcom, Mayor Barbara Volk and Water Treatment Facilities Manager Ricky Levi holding a commemorative check.

By Lightning Reports, Published: November 21, 2023

State Rep. Jennifer Balkcom made a ceremonial presentation of a $14.75-million check to Hendersonville's water & sewer utility during a special called meeting of the Hendersonville City Council on Monday.

“We are grateful to receive this funding that will be put towards projects in our capital improvement plan,” City Manager John Connet said. “These projects will make our water and wastewater treatment operations more resilient and
sustainable and will translate to future savings for our utility customers.”

The request was made by Balkcom and strongly supported by Sen. Tim Moffitt. The funding was a direct appropriation from the N.C. General Assembly as part of the state budget process. Balkcom said she was happy the funding would be meeting a local need and expressed appreciation to city officials for their collaboration during the process.

Wastewater treatment manager Garrett DeMoss and water treatment manager Ricky Levi accepted the check on behalf of Hendersonville Water & Sewer.

The funds will be designated for solids management improvements to promote resiliency, sustainability and cost savings to the utility by constructing a new biosolids thermal drying facility and a water treatment residuals storage building.

The city  owns and operates water and wastewater treatment facilities that serve a population of more than 80,000 water and more than 20,000 sewer customers in Hendersonville and surrounding areas in Henderson
County. Recently, disposal of water and wastewater treatment solid residuals at area landfills has become costly and unreliable. Because the number of active landfills in Western North Carolina is limited, rejection of solids has forced Hendersonville to transport the materials to various landfills at greater distances.

To mitigate current costly and unreliable solids disposal practices, hendersonville intends to construct a new biosolids thermal drying facility at its wastewater treatment facility (wwtf) and a water treatment residuals storage building at its water treatment facility. The new thermal dryer will produce a high-quality, nutrient-rich biosolid product produced from the wastewater treatment process that can be beneficially re-used as a fertilizer or soil amendment. The water treatment residuals storage building at the water treatment plant will temporarily store water treatment residuals before proper disposal.