The Story of Asheville's Water: Before and Beyond Hurricane Helene

with Mike Holcombe

Wednesday, September 24 | 5:30 - 7:30pm

BRN - Elective

This is the story of the Asheville, North Carolina water system; how it was the basis of Asheville’s beginnings, how it fueled the City’s astonishing growth in the early twentieth century, how it became a step-child of the State of North Carolina Legislature in the 1930s, how it expanded to become a Western North Carolina regional asset, attracted the craft brewing industry, and how it was then temporarily destroyed in 2024 by Hurricane Helene.

There are several fine histories of Asheville, but astonishingly none have perceived the primacy of the place of its water system. From the arrival of the railroad in Asheville in the 1880s, its refusal to become a Southern textile center in the 1890s, the boom of metropolitan Asheville in the 1920s, decline and resurrection by the 1960s and 70s, becoming a primary regional water supply and then being the prime ingredient for “Beer City”, the water system has been an unrecognized driver of what Asheville has become today.

Book signing will take place after the talk and books will be available for purchase at the event

This program will take place in the Auditorium at the NC Arboretum and any remaining tickets will be sold at the door.

Mike Holcombe is a native of Asheville. He is a graduate of Appalachian State University, and also holds a Certificate in Municipal Administration from the School of Government at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Mike went to work for the City of Asheville in 1978 in the Finance Department, and was promoted to a senior financial/management executive position in the Water Resources Department in 1979. He was promoted to Director of Water Resources in 1993. After leaving the City in 1999, he changed careers and started the Healthcare Leadership & Management Education Department at the Mountain Area Health Education Center (MAHEC) in Asheville. He retired from MAHEC in 2014. Mike and his wife Pam have five children, and four grandchildren. They live in South Asheville, and enjoy traveling to various points on the globe.

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