A state law passed in July 2017 will lead to changes in water and sewer fees across North Carolina this year. In Jackson County that change will come amid what has been an ongoing debate about the particular fee that the law targets — the impact fee.

A series of water line breakages in Canton during a recent period of extreme cold provoked unusually lengthy complaints from residents determined to point out the obvious, while also pointing fingers.

A routine board appointment turned contentious last week when Sylva Commissioner Harold Hensley announced that he’d like to see someone else appointed to Commissioner David Nestler’s expiring term on the Tuckaseigee Water and Sewer Association Board.

If you don’t like what you hear, get a second opinion — at least, that’s what the Waynesville Board of Alderman is doing with a report on the town’s aging wastewater treatment plant.

Think your honey-do list is long? Wait until you meet Jack Carlisle.

As the drought of 2016 progressed, flows of streams and rivers dwindled region-wide — and the Tuckasegee River, water source for most of Jackson County, was no exception.

From the control room of Canton’s water plant, a steady barrage of numbers flash across the computer monitors.

As days slid by without rain last fall, and the days stacked into weeks, Neil Carpenter watched the water gauge on Jonathan Creek like the ticking hands of a doomsday clock.

SEE ALSO:
• Haywood water systems join forces to aid each other in times of need
• TWSA reviews water shortage plan following drought
• Haywood water systems by the numbers

Carpenter usually has 4 million gallons of water a day at his fingertips — triple what he needs to serve the 3,800 homes and businesses in greater Maggie Valley.

Old-time mountaineers often picked their home and church sites according to the location and purity of springs. They were connoisseurs of water.