Valdese initiates exploring water interconnection with Morganton and Drexel

Post Hurricane Helene, three Burke County municipalities are exploring water interconnection for more resilience in times of emergency.

In Valdese, the town council voted during its June 23 budget hearing to allow staff and McGill and Associates to apply for funding through the State Revolving Fund for Hurricane Helene program, which was implemented by the American Relief Act of 2025.

The funds would be used to explore, design, and fund an interconnection between the municipalities’ water systems, among other utility-based projects. Through this program, $650 million is available for Western North Carolina communities.

Assistant Town Manager/CFO Bo Weichel described how these funds could make their utilities more resilient and repair systems.

“What they’re really focused on is resiliency. They want to see towns and counties working together to be more resilient in case there is another natural disaster,” Weichel said.

After Hurricane Helene impacted water systems, municipal leadership discussed conveying water from Hickory to Morganton through the Valdese distribution. However, the current infrastructure didn’t allow that.

Once staff discovered the funding opportunity, Weichel said the town staff quickly began brainstorming ideas to meet the Aug. 1 application deadline.

Valdese’s proposed funding applications would ask for the following:

• Improvements to their raw water pump station
• A new storage tank in the Triple Community District that would work with a transmission main for moving Valdese water to Morganton or vice versa
• Interconnection to Drexel for emergency transmission
• Funding for the electrical substation at the treatment plant, which was already slated for replacement

The town is seeking funding for improvements to the wastewater plant, including upgrades to handle high flows during rain events, process biosolids, improve disposal, and update the sewer system. This would better protect Valdese’s collection system against potential flooding.

The possible interconnection is very early in the process, but the town will work with engineers and other municipalities to coordinate the effort.

“That’s just big picture right now … We’re going to try to get as much as we can out of this, so what we’re doing is putting together a list of projects, throwing them out there, and seeing what sticks,” Weichel said.

Morganton is on the same track.

At their budget approval meeting on June 16, Morganton City Council voted to apply for the same funding.

Brad Boris, Morganton’s water resources director, said municipalities typically interconnect when one has excess capacity or when another needs additional water.

In Morganton’s case, Boris said that neither is the case for the city. He did say that the interconnection would serve as an extra layer of protection for the city and that interconnections among municipalities are a common practice.

The interconnection would involve a physical pipe-to-pipe link with a valve, allowing water to flow between systems in either direction. Municipalities could purchase water from one another as needed. Boris said the municipalities would need to establish procedures, such as determining who will test the valve to ensure it works during an emergency.

For Drexel, Town Manager Bill Carroll said the town has not taken any formal action on any regional grant application efforts, but that the town will participate when called upon and adopt the necessary documents to keep the process moving.

“The Town of Drexel is fully supportive of regional efforts to improve the efficiency and resilience of utility systems,” Carroll said.

McGill and Associates designed an interconnection for the towns of Mars Hill and Weaverville in 2011, which allowed the two towns to help each other after Hurricane Helene devastated Western North Carolina.

The interconnection was originally prompted by a drought that affected Mars Hill’s water supply, but after Helene flooded Weaverville’s water treatment plant with 8 feet of water, Mars Hill was able to provide water to the more than 200 households that couldn’t get water from the Weaverville plant. The project, according to McGill and Associates’ website, was funded by USDA-Rural Development, Appalachian Regional Commission North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center, and the Town of Mars Hill.

According to McGill and Associates, “Installing a waterline interconnection ahead of needing one will benefit rural communities throughout the Southeast, especially as environmental disasters become more frequent.”