Hendersonville City Council members, utility staff, and stakeholders took part in a ‘First Sip’ ceremony to celebrate the completion of the French Broad River Intake and Water Treatment Facility Filter Expansion on February 13, 2026.
The French Broad River Intake and Pumping Station provides an additional, redundant source of water to residents and businesses in Hendersonville and Henderson County. The new station supplements existing intakes located in Pisgah National Forest and along the Mills River, providing additional drought resiliency to the more than 80,000 people served by Hendersonville’s water utility.
“You can actually see on the building how high the water came when Helene hit, and it is crazy to see how far we’ve come,” said Hendersonville Mayor Pro Tem Jennifer Hensley. “That was a thousand-year storm that this resilient intake was able to withstand with only minor damage.” Mayor Pro Tem Hensley explained the utility’s success is due to the “wonderful, professional staff, our awesome elected officials, the North Carolina General Assembly who supports our utility, and the City Council for making good capital investments in this project. This project is going to help sustain and make our water more resilient for hundreds of years in the future. It’s good for our residents, it’s good for industry, and it’s good for our economy.”…