Answer Woman: Who makes the manhole covers with river, mountains and sky design? How many?

ASHEVILLE - A reader asks about the image imprinted on the city's manhole covers. Have other questions for our staff? Email Executive Editor Karen Chávez at KChavez@citizentimes.com and your question could appear in an upcoming column.

Question: “I was recently walking along the river on a beautiful afternoon when I came across one of the beautiful manhole covers depicting our area with the river, mountains and the sky. They are part of the Metropolitan Sewage District. Where is the foundry that makes these? How many are in the metropolitan sewage district? What percentage of the total number of manhole covers do these represent? How much do they each cost and how does it compare to a manhole covers without the decoration?”

Answer: The logo design is a functional and artistic choice for the Metropolitan Sewerage District of Buncombe County and its service area.

Hunter Carson, engineering director, said MSD owns and operates the collection system and wastewater treatment plant for Buncombe County and parts of northern Henderson County.

Carson said, that in 2010, MSD’s logo became a part of the manhole cover design.

“The manhole cover promotes the beauty of our environment, showing the mountains and the river,” Carson said. “There’s also a logo on the bottom, ‘aqua salubris’ which means ‘healthy water.’ We’re advocates of the environment and clean water bodies in our area. That is our main mission ― to improve water quality in the French Broad River basin.”

Michael Stamey, construction director for the Metropolitan Sewerage District, a non-profit, publicly owned utility created and established in 1962 by the North Carolina State Stream Sanitation Committee, said the logo helps to identify MSD’s manholes so the agency can be contacted sooner and directly if there is an issue.

Stamey said he’s seen other municipalities with different designed covers representing their area and the images vary from town to town.

Carson said an estimated 34,600 sewer manhole covers are in the MSD of Buncombe County’s district.

Stamey said an estimated 5,000 logo manhole covers have been installed since 2010.

Stamey said MSD only allows the logo manhole frame cover ― plain covers are not an option.

East Jordan Iron Works based in East Jordan, Michigan and U.S. Foundry, headquartered in Medley, Florida, manufactures the manhole covers.

The cast-iron covers are 24 inches in diameter, weigh about 80 pounds and cost an estimated $450 each ― or approximately $1,200, including the purchase and installation labor.

Carson said most of the manhole covers in the area remain the former, generic checkered-plated cast-iron lids, which reads “sanitary sewer,” because, in 1990, MSD inherited the bulk of the system that it oversees today from other districts.

The older lids are replaced with newer covers if they are damaged or allow rainwater to enter the sewer system.

“We operate a pretty aggressive capital improvement program here so we’re always out replacing sewer lines. We replace about 40,000 linear feet of pipe in our system every year,” Carson said. “Our ultimate mission is to improve water quality by reducing releases of wastewater out into the environment. The mission is to contain wastewater, transport it, convey it to the treatment plant without any overflows, properly treat it and discharge it back into the French Broad River.”

Currently, MSD is running a Christian Creek Interceptor Project in East Asheville and will soon begin a project on Joyner Avenue, which runs parallel to Amboy Road, behind Cultivate Climbing, Carson said.

MSD employs two in-house construction crews and contracts companies for capital improvement projects, emergency repairs, installing new service taps and other projects.

Residents may report sewer system issues to MSD at 828-255-0061.

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Tiana Kennell is the food and dining reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Email her at tkennell@citizentimes.com or follow her on Instagram @PrincessOfPage. Please support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Decorative sewer manhole covers promote regional nature's beauty