The City of Hendersonville’s Water & Sewer utility was awarded a 14.75-million dollar check by Representative Jennifer Balkcom at the City Council’s November 20th Special Call Meeting. These funds will be designated for solids management improvements to promote resiliency, sustainability, and cost savings to the utility by constructing a new Biosolids Thermal Drying Facility, and a Water Treatment Residuals Storage Building.
“We are grateful to receive this funding that will be put towards projects in our capital improvement plan,” said City Manager John Connet. “These projects will make our water and wastewater treatment operations more resilient and sustainable and will translate to future savings for our utility customers.”
The request was made by Representative Jennifer Balkcom and was strongly supported by Senator Tim Moffitt. The funding was a direct appropriation from the NC General Assembly as part of the state budget process. Representative Balkcom was thrilled the funding would be meeting a local need and expressed her appreciation to the City of Hendersonville for their collaboration during the process.
Garrett DeMoss, Wastewater Treatment Facilities Manager, and Ricky Levi, Water Treatment Facilities Manager, accepted the check on behalf of Hendersonville Water & Sewer.
The City of Hendersonville’s utility owns and operates water and wastewater treatment facilities that serve a population of approximately 80,000+ (water) and 20,000+ (sewer) customers in Hendersonville and surrounding areas in Henderson County. Recently, disposal of water and wastewater treatment solid residuals at area landfills has become costly and unreliable. Since the number of active landfills in western North Carolina is limited, rejection of solids has forced Hendersonville to transport the materials to various landfills at greater distances.
To mitigate current costly and unreliable solids disposal practices, Hendersonville intends to construct a new Biosolids Thermal Drying Facility at its Wastewater Treatment Facility (WWTF) and a Water Treatment Residuals Storage Building at its Water Treatment Facility (WTF). The new Thermal Dryer will produce a high-quality, nutrient-rich biosolid product produced from the wastewater treatment process that can be beneficially re-used as a fertilizer or soil amendment. The Water Treatment Residuals Storage Building will provide Hendersonville a location to temporarily store water treatment residuals at the Water Treatment Facility before proper disposal.
