Cutting Its Losses: Inside the City of Asheville’s Non-Revenue Water Program

By Brandon Buckner & Will Jernigan

Nestled near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in western North Carolina, the City of Asheville has much to boast about — including quality of life, a vibrant arts culture and more microbreweries per capita than any U.S. city (that’s roughly 100 local beers!). In fact, the Asheville area recently became home to the second brewing sites for Sierra Nevada and New Belgium. Part of the draw for these breweries, apart from the population’s demand for beer, has been the area’s water — which comes in plentiful supply and of the highest quality. It makes for an interesting case study, especially when it comes to managing water loss — water extracted from the rivers or aquifers but lost largely due to aging infrastructure. Those headlines are usually dominated by the cities in the western arid states.