Some Asheville schools are drilling wells so they can reopen with running water

October 12, 20248:05 AM ET

Still without running water after Helene, schools in Asheville, N.C., can’t hold in-person classes. Now the school system has decided to drill its own wells.

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Schools in Asheville have been closed since Hurricane Helene hit North Carolina two weeks ago. There has been no water and no timeline for restoration. And as Blue Ridge Public Radio’s Laura Hackett reports, some schools are taking the matter into their own hands.

LAURA HACKETT, BYLINE: Rob Jackson has been losing sleep over how to solve the water problem. He is the superintendent for the county that includes Asheville.

ROB JACKSON: In my 33-plus years, if a school didn’t have water, we sent students home. We closed school. We couldn’t imagine operating schools without water. Water is crucial to the operation of a building.

HACKETT: He needs solutions for everything from sprinklers to bathrooms to the tens of thousands of meals that need to be prepared every day. One Asheville school had an idea.

MAGGIE FEHRMAN: We did drill a well at Hall Fletcher Elementary school, and we were able to hit groundwater.

HACKETT: That’s Maggie Fehrman who runs the schools in Asheville. They’re trying to drill wells at nine more schools, and once hooked up, hope to open them again. They think it may happen in a couple of weeks. Another idea is to equip schools with large water vats and a pump system. It would take roughly 180,000 gallons of water a day to make that happen. Meanwhile…

TRUMIE ROBERTS: I miss school. I miss seeing everyone. It’s definitely boring sometimes being at home.

HACKETT: Trumie Roberts is in eighth grade and one of around 25,000 students in the school system. Virtual learning isn’t possible because of persistent and widespread power outages. So some students have evacuated with their families and enrolled somewhere else. Others, like Roberts, are just sticking it out.

TRUMIE: My mom’s been doing lots of community work. We recently dropped off a generator to a woman who had just given birth. She had no power, no water. So I’ve been running errands with her.

HACKETT: In her downtime, she’s picked up a new skill.

TRUMIE: I also got a new sewing machine, so I had to start a hobby because we don’t have Wi-Fi.

HACKETT: As for the parents we talk to, they can’t wait for schools to reopen with whatever water source.

For NPR News, I’m Laura Hackett in Asheville, North Carolina.

(SOUNDBITE OF THE VELVET UNDERGROUND’S “RIDE INTO THE SUN”)

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