As much of the Southeast is plagued by drought, Asheville maintains a healthy water supply. For the past fifteen years, citizens of Asheville have been asked to cut back on their water use each summer. Now that Asheville owns and operates the water system, even though there has been almost no rain for a year, no dreadful shortage is expected.
At a meeting tonight, Water Resources Director David Hanks told how Asheville had the capacity to supply four times as much water as is currently demanded. One of the city’s reservoirs is even overflowing.
Mayor Terry Bellamy asked members of council for policy direction. Should Governor Mike Easley demand that Asheville share its resources with other regions, Bellamy wanted it to be on the city’s terms. Hanks said the city is not currently equipped to bottle or tank water for other communities. Dr. Carl Mumpower thought any community desperate enough to pay for a tanker should be given water freely. Brownie Newman thought that since the citizens of Asheville had paid to build the water treatment infrastructure, they should be compensated by outsiders needing water. Bryan Freeborn offered that the city should not provide water to other people in the state until the state lifts the onerous Sullivan acts. Members of council wanted the water department to communicate updates to the public graphically on the state of the water system. Council member-elect Bill Russell, sitting in the audience, asked why they wanted to create a sense of alarm over an abundance of water.
What was alarming is that when Bryan Freeborn walked in the room, he informed Russell that 200 provisional ballots have not yet been counted, and that he (Freeborn) will ask for a recount, merely to test the system. Russell edged out Freeborn by only 84 votes to qualify for a seat on council.
