In North Carolina, water infrastructure remains mired in a long post-hurricane recovery.
“Mitchell County Water Treatment System for the entire county, both towns, is gone,” State Sen. Ralph Hise said. “It does not exist, and it's unsalvageable. That's a four-year process to put a water treatment plant back in. We don't have a temporary solution to these things right now.” Mitchell County is located northeast of Asheville.
Wastewater treatment is one thing; access to clean, potable water is another. These dual broadsides for the western North Carolina region represent a major infrastructure challenge. As the Washington Post reported this week, "It is likely to still be weeks or months before taps in this part of Appalachia begin flowing with clean, potable water. The hurricane demolished key components of a system that serves about 160,000 households in and around Asheville. Perhaps half of them can now turn on faucets — authorities don’t know how many, exactly, but say they have made progress restoring service in recent days — but what comes out is so muddy and contaminated, it must be boiled and strained."
Residents in some areas have gone so far as to dig their own wells to provide an immediate solution and to put in place a bulwark against future disasters.
