BLOWING ROCK — Whether previous town councils and town management kicked the proverbial can down the road or it just took awhile for infrastructure problems to become noticeable is immaterial. Like a lot of towns often reluctant to make big capital expenditures until absolutely necessary, Blowing Rock has many aging infrastructure features. The recent pipeline blowout that prompted the loss of more than three million gallons of water only serves to underline that fact.

Parts of the water and sewer systems are as much as 70 years old, with some areas perhaps even older. Given the recent water loss that could have been much, much worse, this is a good time to take a closer look at the systems that serve the needs of residents and businesses within the town limits. Thanks to Town Manager Shane Fox for answering our questions and supplying us with details.

Blowing Rock has a completely independent water supply system, the only exception to that statement being the Boone-Blowing Rock water interconnect that comes together across the highway from Tweetsie Railroad, near what is now the Quality Plus service station.

The interconnect is for emergency purposes, in case one or the other community experiences a shortage and the other town has ample supply it can share. The interconnect means that water can flow in either direction.

For all intents and purposes, though, Blowing Rock is independent as to its water sources, with its own water plant and storage facilities, as well as its own distribution systems.

The Town of Blowing Rock service supplies water to more than 2,300 customers by way of more than 22 miles of water lines. It is a bit unnerving to think that the recent blowout could have occurred anywhere along those miles and miles of lines, perhaps in a remote, wooded location not easily detectable. In one sense, the town was lucky that the blowout on July 18 occurred in the riverbed, creating a more than 10 feet in diameter by three feet deep “crater” that might have been missed if it had occurred in the middle of a more overgrown area or a harder to get to section of the river. If that had happened, town officials and community officials might still be looking for the leak, three weeks later.

The town’s water plant was built in 1978, 44 years ago. That was a long time ago. Ronald Reagan had not yet been elected President of the United States and we were only a couple of years removed from an Arab oil embargo that caused a deep economic recession in 1974 and 1975, while we faced long lines at the nation’s gas stations and even then were limited on how much fuel we could buy (rationing). A lot of long distance vacations were aborted.

The water plant has a 1.2-million-gallon capacity when running 24/7, said Fox, although it is rarely called upon for that level of production. We can be thankful that recent repairs brought some new physical plant improvements — but even more are needed.

Blowing Rock has an entirely gravity dependent distribution system. Water is pumped up to the storage tank at the top of Green Hill and in the middle of Green Hill Circle. The tank can hold approximately three million gallons and distribution is all downhill from there. No distribution pumps are required and there are 24 pressure release valves scattered around the system, with most if not all scheduled for replacement over the next few years.

Not surprisingly, town officials over the years have chosen not to replace Main Street’s water and sewer lines because of the disruption to downtown businesses.

Fox reported, “In looking back over the records, some of those Main Street lines date back to 1910, so they are more than a century old. A lot of the lines are what amounts to rusted cast iron. In just the last 10 years, there have been 27 major water line breaks on Main Street, and they are now occurring with greater frequency. This is why Town Council pushed for a major overhaul of the downtown water lines and delivery system. And thanks to the legislative work of NC House Representative Ray Pickett and NC Senator Deanna Ballard, we have secured a grant that pays for the whole thing, $4.8 million, so none of that is coming out of the town’s general fund nor prompting a need to raise taxes even more.”

Fox said that the Main Street water line replacement project will cost $4 million, replacing 9,200 linear feet (almost two miles) of 8-inch lines. There will be new fire hydrants, as well as news services and meters. The Main Street sewer line project is budgeted at $800,000, representing the remainder of the $4.8 million in state funding.

As for the sewer system, the wastewater treatment plant was built in 1987. Two full-time employees (not staffed 24/7) oversee the treatment of between 200,000 and 400,000 gallons of water daily. The treated-to-pure water is discharged into the Middle Fork South Fork of the New River and the waste solids are transported off the mountain with a sludge truck.

By way of both gravity and pressurized sewer lines, sewage from both residential and commercial customers arrives at one of four “lift” stations (Mayview, Chetola, U.S. 321, and Dogwood), then pumped to the wastewater treatment plant. Some of the lift stations are getting pretty old, too, especially the Mayview station. Let’s just say it would be a stinking catastrophe for many of the highest valued properties in town should the Mayview station become inoperable for any reason. Not surprisingly, Fox reports that it is high on the repair and replace list.

There are more than 20 miles of sewer lines within the town limits (there are a few residences with septic tanks and not connected to the municipal sewage system) and almost 1,800 sewer customers. Again, a great number of the facilities serving the town’s sewer needs are more than 40 years old.

Fox said that the Town is utilizing a United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) loan for the following upgrades beginning in 2023:

“We will also be moving all of our water meters to AMI technology and replacing the water meters. This should begin in 2023, too, and will give all of our water customers the ability to have real time data of water usage,” said Fox.

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