On Oct. 25, Asheville Water Resources Department spokesperson Clay Chandler offered the public a chilling vision of a catastrophe averted. He reported that a spillway project completed in 2020-21 at the North Fork Reservoir arguably prevented “what is already a catastrophe from being exponentially worse.” It probably prevented the collapse of the North Fork Dam, which would have released 6 billion gallons of water to scour the valley from Black Mountain to Biltmore and beyond. I think I was not alone in thinking, “Whew!”
Last week I bumped into my friend Holly Jones, a former Asheville City Council and Buncombe County Board of Commissioners member, who surprised me with “Congratulations!” I obviously looked perplexed. “When I saw that report, I had to look it up. You voted for the project in 2017!” She hugged me.
I was glad we approved it, though I honestly didn’t recall, but what I realized is that there’s not a chance in the world that we elected officials came up with the idea. I wanted to find out who did.
It turns out it was Steve Shoaf, Asheville’s director of water resources from 2009-15, who recognized the need following the 2004 flood (among others) and advanced the idea before his retirement.
Thanks, Steve, we sure needed that!
— Cecil Bothwell
Asheville Council 2009-17
Asheville
