Day 53 of the Apocalypse, Ground Zero, Gerton, NC pop. 231

Water is the foundation of life, but my relationship with it has changed so much since Hurricane Helene.

It’s Day 53 and Asheville still has no water.

Driving on the highway through downtown, I see semi-tractor trailers carrying potable water, enroute to sites all over Asheville.

There is water running through city pipes but it has too much chlorine, copper and lead in it to be safe. Once water was turned back on (on October 16th) to run from reservoirs through city pipes it wasn’t safe.

That’s because water was initially not run through the city’s filtration systems due to too much sediment still being in the water in the reservoirs. The sediment could damage the filtration systems.

So non-potable water is being pumped into homes and businesses. Toilets flush and you can technically take a shower in the water, but it doesn’t work so well for people with sensitive skin or immune deficiencies. Plus there are advisories to not wash your dishes in the water, and of course to not drink it.
Public bathrooms are supplied with hand sanitizer and “dude wipes” for addressing stinky body parts.

Public showers and washing machines in trailers are stationed throughout the Asheville area, as are potable water stations, where you can fill up jugs, but going to the stations more than once or twice a week is too much of a hassle for most people. So people are showering less, and using paper products more.

I’ve read that the city began treating water and pumping it into the system on October 30th (20 days ago), and the Asheville City Council indicated that potable water could be available through pipes as early as this week. There is a “wait and see” attitude here - people not believing that is even possible.

Every time I leave our house to drive to Asheville, encountering devastation everywhere I look, I cry. Not balling or even sobbing. Tears just leak out of my eyeballs in a nonstop reminder that we are not okay. My body is making its own water.

It rained hard last week. In the past that would have been a blessing. Now it is fearful.

What if mudslides happen again?

What if the temporary roads between the highway and our house become undrivable because they get too muddy?

What is the cost of too much water?

What is the cost of not enough water?

Our relationship with water is forever changed.