Asheville Water Resources Director David Melton has accepted a position as Water and Wastewater Director of the Water Service Department in Rock Hill, S.C. and will leave the City of Asheville August 1.
During his tenure with the City of Asheville, David has been instrumental in managing several projects that will have long lasting impacts on the Asheville community including:
- Leading Water Resources’ response to and recovery from tropical storm Helene, which caused catastrophic damage to the department’s production and distribution systems.
- Completing the auxiliary spillway at North Fork Water Treatment Plant that played a critical role in protecting the facility’s earthen dam during Helene.
- Ongoing, multi-phase upgrade of Mills River Water Treatment Plant that will eventually double its production capacity.
- Completing the Patton Avenue waterline project, in which 7,000 feet of new waterline was installed that will supply more water to the growing western portions of Asheville and Buncombe County.
“It has been my honor to serve as the director of Water Resources for over nine years,” Melton said. “I have never been associated with a team as talented and dedicated. We have had many successes and supported each other through challenges. While I am excited to be closer to family in South Carolina, this was a difficult decision. I want to express my sincere gratitude for our staff’s hard work and commitment to serving our customers every day. They have made my time here truly great, and I wish each of them, and the City, continued success.”
“I am grateful for David’s leadership at Water Resources, especially in the immediate aftermath of Helene,” said City Manager Debra Campbell. “Restoring water service in the face of historic destruction required a massive response from Water Resources staff in coordination with partners in the public and private sector. The plan David and his team put in place to make our water system as resilient as possible as quickly as possible will benefit the City for years to come. We wish him well as he begins a new chapter.”
An Interim Director will be named soon, followed by a selection process for Water Resources Director.