Asheville Reviews North Fork Reservoir Pre-Treatment Upgrades
The city's Infrastructure Recovery Board toured progress on a permanent pre-treatment system at the Black Mountain reservoir after Hurricane Helene sent sediment into it.
Updated on Nov. 4, 2026 in Utilities
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Asheville's Infrastructure Recovery Board toured upgrade work at the North Fork Reservoir in Black Mountain, where mud and sediment from Hurricane Helene made the water too muddy for the city's treatment plant to handle. The city is building a permanent pre-treatment system at the site.
Why it matters
Sediment that overwhelms the treatment plant can interrupt the supply of drinking water to Asheville residents. The planned upgrades are meant to protect the plant from future storm-driven sediment loads.
The planned reservoir improvements are expected to cost about $300 million, with two additional large projects still awaiting construction. Each project could take about five years to complete once construction is approved.
The players
Asheville Infrastructure Recovery Board
A city body overseeing post-Helene infrastructure recovery in Asheville, including the reservoir and treatment plant upgrades.
FEMA
The Federal Emergency Management Agency, the federal agency expected to finance the reservoir improvements.
The details
A recently finished fuse gate is designed to tip when the reservoir rises too high. The permanent pre-treatment system is intended to keep sediment from overwhelming the treatment plant, and FEMA is expected to finance the improvements.
Timeline
Mud and sediment poured into the North Fork Reservoir during Hurricane Helene in 2024.
The Infrastructure Recovery Board toured the upgrade project on Tuesday, November 3, 2026.
Roadmap
The reservoir upgrades are a direct response to the sediment Hurricane Helene pushed into the North Fork Reservoir in 2024, which left Asheville's water treatment plant unable to process the muddy supply. The city's effort to build permanent pre-treatment capacity follows the storm's damage across western North Carolina.
Asheville residents depend on the treatment plant for their drinking water, so the pre-treatment upgrades matter for keeping that supply running during future storms. The projects' roughly $300 million cost and five-year timelines mean the work will take years to finish.
The takeaway
Storm-driven sediment can disable a water treatment plant even when the reservoir itself is intact, which is why pre-treatment capacity is being added at the source. Residents should expect the reservoir work to run for several years.
Further reading
For more on how the city manages its water system, see Asheville Utilities.
Source note: This article includes information reported by WLOS.
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Should Asheville spend $300 million on reservoir upgrades after Helene?
