ASHEVILLE – The temporary pretreatment systems at two of the city’s water reservoirs, which served as backups after Tropical Storm Helene, are now offline.

They are being dismantled and removed, a process that will likely be finished by the end of the month, Water Resources Department spokesperson Clay Chandler said Dec. 4.

The temporary systems were installed after Helene wreaked havoc on the city’s watershed in late September 2024, leaving it more vulnerable to future storms. If the turbidity at the typically pristine reservoirs were to again spike, they would have ensured water could continue to be filtered — rather than pumping non-potable, highly chlorinated water out to a majority of Asheville’s 160,000 customers.

But the system was costly. It operated at both the North Fork a

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