Hendersonville council agrees in concept to treat Henderson County's Etowah wastewater, authorizes staff negotiations

The Hendersonville City Council on June 4 voted to "agree in concept" to accept and treat wastewater from Henderson County's Etowah sewer system and authorized staff to negotiate final terms and conditions with Henderson County.

City staff said they received a letter from Henderson County describing studies of options for taking the Etowah plant offline, including options to build a replacement plant, send wastewater to Buncombe County's MSD or connect via force main to Hendersonville's wastewater system. Staff described the request as conceptual: Henderson County has proposed constructing a force main with pump stations to convey flow to the city for treatment.

The city manager said staff believes accepting and treating the flow at Hendersonville's wastewater plant "may be a very reasonable concept" but emphasized many details remain, including engineering work, capacity allocation, system development fees, capital costs, permitting, and connection agreements. Council member comments emphasized that any capital expense implications should be negotiated and that the arrangement is not intended as a means for the city to expand land-use control in rural county areas.

Council voted by voice vote to agree in concept and to authorize staff to work with Henderson County to develop final terms and conditions. Staff will return to council as negotiations and technical analyses progress.

Next steps: staff and Henderson County will develop proposed terms, identify capital and operational costs and permitting needs, and bring detailed proposals back to council for approval.