News

Flood overwhelms water plant, breaks lines, knocks out wastewater plant

By Bill Moss, Published: September 28, 2024

Floodwaters from Tropical Storm Helene have overwhelmed Hendersonville's water and wastewater treatment plants, reducing the water plant's capacity and knocking out the sewage treatment plant.

"The City of Hendersonville’s Wastewater Treatment Plant is completely down at this time," the city said in a news release Friday night. "Once floodwaters recede at the plant, assessments will be made in order to bring the plant back online."

The Hendersonville water treatment plant is not operating at full capacity. Once the flooding recedes and crews are able to safely access the Mills River intake, they will evaluate and determine when the intake can be brought fully back online and restore production to regular levels. There are multiple line breaks and leaks throughout the distribution system. Due to the challenges of navigating through the county, crews have been unable to fully assess damaged lines and infrastructure. 

The city is aware of two large sections of the system that are without water. Customers east of I-26 are without water due to breaks in the system and depleted eastside storage tank. Saluda customers are without water due to a break in the transmission line. There is the potential for additional customers to lose water. Staff are continuing to assess the situation and will evaluate the water loss levels to determine if additional portions of the system need to be isolated. 

Customers who have experienced low pressure or no pressure are advised to follow the City’s System Pressure Advisory protocols. This includes using bottled water or boiling water before consumption if the customer has that option. 

System Pressure Advisory Information is at www.hvlnc.gov/wateralerts and attached. 

Customers who are fortunate enough to have water are asked to conserve water for only essential uses until the system can be repaired and water restored to all customers.