News

'First Sip' ceremony celebrates completion of French Broad water intake

By Lightning Reports, Published: February 14, 2026

Hendersonville City Council members, utility staff, and stakeholders took part in a "First Sip" ceremony on Friday to celebrate the completion of the French Broad River Intake and Water Treatment Facility Filter Expansion. 

The French Broad River Intake and Pumping Station provides an additional, redundant source of water to residents and businesses in Hendersonville and Henderson County. The new station supplements existing intakes located in Pisgah National Forest and along the Mills River, providing additional drought resiliency to the more than 80,000 people served by Hendersonville’s water utility. 
“You can actually see on the building how high the water came when Helene hit, and it is crazy to see how far we’ve come,” said Hendersonville Mayor Pro Tem Jennifer Hensley. “That was a thousand-year storm that this resilient intake was able to withstand with only minor damage.”

Hensley thanked the “wonderful, professional staff, our awesome elected officials, the North Carolina General Assembly who supports our utility, and the City Council for making good capital investments in this project. This project is going to help sustain and make our water more resilient for hundreds of years in the future. It's good for our residents, it's good for industry, and it's good for our economy.” 
Commissioned in December 2025 and officially celebrated with the ceremony on Friday, the station collects and pumps water from the French Broad River to the Water Treatment Facility where it is purified into high quality drinking water. 

Before this fourth water source was constructed, Hendersonville’s water supply was vulnerable to drought. Recent droughts in 2007-2008, 2016, and 2023 pushed the limits of the previous water supply and led to customer water use restrictions. The new French Broad River Intake greatly strengthens drought resiliency and redundancy and adds the necessary capacity to supply the growing future water demands of the community. 

In his remarks, Utilities Director Adam Steurer said operating Hendersonville's water utility takes decades of thoughtful planning and investment. 
 “Water is often taken for granted,” he said. “It flows at the turn of a handle, quiet and reliable. But here in Hendersonville, we understand its true value. We have chosen to make this great investment in water.” 
Even though a main driver for the project was to provide a resilient water supply in times of drought, all critical infrastructure was designed to be protected from flooding. This was accomplished by constructing an operating floor elevated above the 500-year flood elevation, roughly 15 feet above grade, to house the pump motors, emergency generator and other electrical equipment. Everything below this height was designed to handle submergence from floodwaters. The new infrastructure was tested by Tropical Storm Helene when floodwater rose to over 16 feet above grade, which ultimately over-topped the operating floor. Overall, the infrastructure held up as expected, with little to no structural or mechanical damage; however, several pieces of electrical equipment were flooded and required replacement. Since Helene, additional flood gate systems in the electrical room have been installed to provide additional protection should flood waters rise above the 500-year flood elevation in the future. 
“It’s a testament and a commitment to keeping our waters clean," French Broad Riverkeeper Anna Alsobrook said of the new intake plant. "Clean water doesn't just happen by itself; it happens with dedicated effort, collaboration, and investment. Thank you for your commitment to clean water.” 
The intake project was funded completely by Hendersonville’s water customers through monthly water utility bills and financed through the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality State Revolving Fund low-interest loan. The project took approximately 10 years to complete with the design and permitting beginning in 2016 and construction starting in 2022. 

The project included the construction of two additional multimedia (gravel, sand, anthracite) gravity filters and associated piping, instrumentation and appurtenances. It increases the Water Treatment Facility’s permitted capacity from 12 million gallons per day to 15 mgd to support the growing business and community needs.