Hendersonville Environmental Sustainability Board Honors Water & Sewer Department with Sustainability Hero Award
The City of Hendersonville Environmental Sustainability Board awarded Hendersonville’s Water & Sewer Department with the third annual Sustainability Hero Award at the April 3, 2025, City Council Meeting.
Environmental Sustainability Board Chair Virginia Tegel emphasized this year’s winner has shown “a long-standing record of prioritizing sustainability in all areas of operation, including water conservation, waste reduction, and operational efficiency.”
Some of this department’s accomplishments include the following:
- Restoring clean drinking water in just over two weeks to 100% of customers after Hurricane Helene
- Prioritizing integrative infrastructure improvements that use stormwater and erosion control measures
- Creating the Mountains on Tap program to encourage drinking tap water and reducing single-use plastics
- Creating the Water Conservation Rebate program to incentivize the community to reduce water consumption in homes
- Installing a UV disinfection system that is expected to reduce City-wide electrical consumption by 6% or about 801,000 kilowatt-hours, enough electricity to power approximately 70 homes for a year
- Implementing a Water Treatment facility-wide recycling program
- Initiating a biosolids thermal dryer facility which is estimated to reduce biosolid landfill waste by over 60%
The award also highlighted the efforts of specific Water & Sewer staff members Bo Stepp, Damian Bingham, Chase Dowdy and Stephen Bell. Bo Stepp, Damian Bingham, and Chase Dowdy initiated stream restoration practices to repair eroding streambanks to protect sewer infrastructure including recontouring the stream bank and planting native vegetation. Instead of taking the easy route, this crew built a durable, long-term solution which paid off during Hurricane Helene.
Laboratory Supervisor Stephen Bell took the initiative to start a recycling program at the Water Treatment Facility which he currently maintains while educating staff members on the importance of waste reduction. This has led to staff members carrying over these efforts of waste reduction in their own lives which is directly aligned with the mission of the Environmental Sustainability Board.
Past award recipients include Brandon Mundy, awarded in 2024 for implementing efficiency changes to the City’s brush collection program, route efficiency study, and implementing a tracking program for contaminated recycling and trash bins. Mike Huffman, the first award recipient in 2023 was selected for his work in water quality, stream and floodplain restoration projects, creating Hendersonville’s Stormwater Program, Trash Trout program, education, and rain barrel program.
For additional information about the Environmental Sustainability Hero Award, please visit https://www.hvlnc.gov/sustainabilityheroaward