City of Asheville Water Resources Department breaks ground on Mills River Water Treatment Plant Rehabilitation and Upgrades – Phase 2

Posted on by Kim Miller
line of participants with shovels in various stages of "breaking ground" during the Mills River Treatment Plant ceremony
Staff, elected officials and partners break ground for Phase 2 upgrades at the Mills River Water Treatment Plant

City of Asheville Water Resources Department Assistant Director Leslie Carreiro and Mayor Esther Manheimer joined City Leadership May 23 in breaking ground on Phase 2 of the Rehabilitation and Upgrade Project at Mills River Water Treatment Plant. The $23.3 million project, funded by the Water Resources Capital Improvement fund, will include new and enhanced infrastructure to make the Mills River WTP more resilient. 

Leslie Carreiro holding microphone to address crowd beside a Mills River plant/city of Asheville sign. Mayor Maheimer looks on
Asst. water Resources Director Leslie Carreiro at Mills River Water Treatment Plant – Phase 2 upgrades goundbreaking May 23
Phase 2 enhancements include: 
  • A new 1 million gallon clearwell to increase the storage of finished water to 1.5 million gallons.
  • A new 8 million gallon offstream storage reservoir to increase the offstream storage of raw water to a total of 23 million gallons.
  • A new backwash lagoon to prepare for a future increase in treatment capacity.
  • Additional raw water intake pumping systems to increase and provide redundancy for raw water pumping..
  • New switchgear for the Mills River WTP emergency generator to provide more reliable and seamless power transfers during power loss situations.

“Additional offstream storage combined with an additional clearwell that will increase storage of finished water are important steps in making progress toward doubling the capacity of Mills River,” Carreiro said. “This will expand MIlls River’s service area beyond South Asheville and strengthen our water system for our customers.”

This phase of the project will provide more reliable operation and resilience for the Mills River WTP. Additionally, the enhancements will allow for a future Phase 3 project to double treatment capacity of the Mills River plant to increase future water contribution to the City of Asheville Water Resources system. 

Mayor Manheimer holding microphone to address crowd beside a Mills River plant / city of Asheville sign
Mayor Manheimer at Mills River Water Treatment Plant – Phase 2 upgrades goundbreaking May 23

“We learned during Helene how critical a resilient water system is,” Manheimer said. “Complex projects like this require months and years of planning and are only the result of collaboration among Water staff and our partners in the private sector.”

Phase 2 has a build-out term of approximately three years. Construction on Phase 3 is tentatively scheduled to begin some time in 2029 and will take approximately three years to complete