Woodfin – There’s a new director at the Woodfin Water District. Brian Goldstein has taken over at the nearly 100-year-old facility. Goldstein is takeover for retiring Director Joseph Martin.
Goldstein is originally from New York, growing up in New York City and going to college in upstate New York. “I worked for New York State for 20 years before moving down.” There he was the state director of the state’s small business center.
He said he started coming down to Asheville in 2005 for the annual Habitat for Humanity concert, slowly falling in love with the area, “and my wife and I, every time we came down, would expand our trips a few days.” They decided when they got close to retirement that they wanted to live here, he told the Tribune.
In 2017, they bought a condo in Fletcher and made the transition after he left the New York State government. While he had one job in the area, a family issue made him leave the position and go back to New York to take care of it. When he returned, he started looking for another job and applied for the Woodfin Water position. He started on January 3rd of this year.
“No,” Goldstein admitted to the Tribune when asked if he had any water district experience. “They knew that when they interviewed me, but they were looking for someone who would run the organization and then learn the water part of it on the job. We have a whole field team with supervisors schooling me very quickly on everything from our transmission service through plant operation and everything.”
Asked, understanding he has only been a short time at the department, what the biggest issue facing the district might be, Goldstein said, “It’s kinda hard to say, I mean, there are some maintenance issues that aren’t causing anything wrong with the water, but I think they’re kind of at the end of their life and need to be replaced. Doing some rehab up at the water plant. Good things to make sure the water quality is what we want.” He went on to say there are processes he is working on to make sure employees’ work product is standardized and working most efficiently.
Asked what the most surprising thing about his new job is, he said. “Just how a water system works and operates.” What Goldstein has found amusing is that the district uses goats to control the grass around its reservoir. “Basically, they have goats living on the outside of the dam, fenced in and they are able to keep that foliage down to its minimum level.”
Goldstein said there is a 500-plus unit apartment complex that will be going in near Weaverville, recently approved by Buncombe County, that will be the biggest project for the district soon.
“The system is pretty tight,” talking about the loss of water due to leaks and adds some of the system’s waterlines have been there as long as the water district, meaning they’re nearly 100 years old. “They work fine. They’re made of cast iron and they don’t really wear out too much.”
When it comes to the compacity of the system, Goldstein said they still have excess production capacity at the water treatment plant as well as with the water they buy from the City of Asheville. He said the plant can produce a million gallons a day and they are currently at 750,000 – 780,000 gallons per day.
He said that they also buy 250,000 gallons per day from Asheville, which is about 25 percent of their current contract, which is up for renewal in 2025. Goldstein said he would meet with Asheville soon about renewing the contract and does not foresee a problem. “They probably are going to want us to buy more water.”
He’s also meeting with Weaverville about supplying water. “We’re not looking to join forces,” said Goldstein.
About the District
According to information found on their webpage, the “Woodfin Sanitary District was formed in 1923 to provide sanitary sewer service for the Beaver Lake & Woodfin area. The Woodfin Water District was formed in 1927 to provide drinking water service to the same area. The two districts were consolidated in 1931 to form the Woodfin Sanitary Water & Sewer District. Over nearly 100 years, the District has grown to serve a population of 10,000 spread over 3 municipalities and Buncombe County. In 1991, the District’s sanitation lines were turned over to the Metropolitan Sewer District of Buncombe County for operation and maintenance.”