The City of Asheville’s North Fork Reservoir Spillway and Embankment Improvement Project Receives the ASDSO National Rehabilitation Project of the Year Award

In July, the Association of State Dam Safety Officials (ASDSO) selected the North Fork Reservoir Spillway and Embankment Improvement Project in Black Mountain as the 2021 National Rehabilitation Project of the Year. The ASDSO offers this award annually to one project in which the ASDSO, “recognizes a unique remedial design, for a project of any size, that advances the state-of-the-art in the field of dam safety and exemplifies the professional engineering and construction standards that dam safety requires.”

Most of the available water for the City of Asheville is drawn from the North Fork Reservoir, and McGill is proud to be a part of the team that worked to design and create a system that complies with regulatory standards. We provided civil, piping, electrical, and surveying for the design of the emergency spillway project while working alongside Schnabel Engineering (lead designer) and Phillips and Jordan, Inc. (general contractor).

This project significantly improved function of the principal spillway in preparation for potential major storm events. While maintaining water supply to the City of Asheville through a temporary water pumping system, the project team rehabilitated the principal spillway, created a new auxiliary spillway, and improved the main water intake line that feeds the water treatment plant. The final product serves multiple purposes by protecting reservoir integrity, fulfilling regulatory criteria, and expanding overflow capacity for the City.

Mark Cathey, McGill Principal and Asheville Office Manager said that, “As a native of Asheville that has experienced the amazing growth of the City over the past 50 years, it was certainly a great honor for McGill to be part of this paramount project for the City, which helps to protect and preserve one of the finest water sources in the country. The residents of Asheville are certainly blessed with their water supply resources.”