Photo By Michael Maddox | Lake water is treated three Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF) units where air pushed into...... read more read more
Access to clean, drinkable water is essential for everyone, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is doing its part to ensure residents of Asheville, North Carolina have the water the city needs as part of Hurricane Helene relief efforts.
One place USACE has been making this effort is the Bee Tree Reservoir and adjacent water treatment, located plant just east of Asheville. After the hurricane hit, the reservoir collected rainwater, and debris running off the surrounding mountains in the form of dirt, mud and fallen trees because of mudslides created by the rain from the storm. This led to a much higher level of turbidity – matter suspended in the water – that needed to be filtered out to make the water drinkable again.
Jeff Wood, USACE quality assurance representative at the reservoir, oversees the Bee Tree Reservoir Turbidity Reduction System that was put in place to help filter debris and particulates out of water after Hurricane Helene hit North Carolina.
“The storm came through and dumped massive amounts of water in the mountains here, which caused mudslides. The mudslide debris washed through the surrounding valleys, down into the lake, and caused a much higher level of turbidity in the water. So, this system was brought in to filter most of that turbidity out of the water before it hits the treatment plant in Asheville,” he said.
Wood said the filtration the system is providing is multi-staged to get the water as clean as possible.
“It starts with a chemical process where the water is injected with a chemical, alum, to attract the dirt, the turbidity, and then it goes into the Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF) units,” he said.
Alum, also known as aluminum sulfate, is a common coagulant used in DAF systems to destabilize and clump these particles together, making them easier to float to the surface. This process is widely used in various industries for water purification and wastewater treatment.
“The DAFs put air into the water and all that floats to the surface, and then it's scooped out. From there, it goes through another filter process called sand filters - it's a pressurized vessel filled with sand and rock, and it pushes that water through that media and then out. Then the last filter is a bag filter, which is like a mesh screen that pushes the water through that. Then it goes to the plant," Wood explained.
Wood, from the Seattle District where he works as a safety/environmental officer at Libby Dam in Montana, said there have great improvements in the water quality since the beginning of the work at the reservoir.
“At the beginning, the turbidity was around 80 parts per million, and now we're down to 2 parts per million (PPM) coming into the filtration system as raw water, and after we filter that out with less than 0.5 is the goal. When it leaves our system, it's anywhere from 0.3 to 0.5. PPM,” he said.
He said he’s proud to be a part of the Turbidity Reduction System project, helping to provide area residents with clean, safe water.
“I think it's really good -- I think we did good things, and I’m hopeful it continues after we’re gone. I know the city crews are working really hard and it's stressing their existing infrastructure to the max – I think our system eases the burden on that system, he said. “I’m just glad that we can help the city get back to what was normal before the hurricane.”
| Date Taken: | 07.05.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 07.05.2025 15:17 |
| Story ID: | 542089 |
| Location: | SWANNANOA, NORTH CAROLINA, US |
| Web Views: | 38 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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