Asheville City Schools outlines tank-and-well plan to enable phased reopening after Hurricane Helene

Asheville City Schools officials told the board in a special virtual meeting that a mix of donated potable tanks, temporary well hookups and bottled water will be used to restore water to school buildings and support a phased reopening after Hurricane Helene.

Maggie (district staff) said the district is targeting Oct. 28 as a reopening goal but cautioned that date depends on water availability and logistics. "We set the date or target date of October 28, to reopen our school buildings, but we are still actively working on how we are going to get enough water to our buildings," Maggie said, explaining principals are preparing phased reentry plans to share at the regular board meeting on Monday.

The board heard a detailed operational briefing from Sean Fields, an operations lead on the emergency-management response, who described a current plan that places donated 3,000- to 6,000-gallon potable tanks at school sites and pumps that water into school plumbing. "We found a donor and 3,000 or 6,000 gallon tanks and placed them at school sites," Sean said. He warned, however, that tanks alone probably will not meet demand at larger campuses: "The high school is 9,000 gallons a day, somewhere in…