ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) -- Thousands of residents across Buncombe County had water flowing to their sinks and toilets on Monday, Oct. 14, in a major milestone for the City of Asheville's water efforts amid line repairs.
In Fairview, Janet Graham went shopping for groceries Monday morning at Ingles. When she got back, she turned the faucet on and was thrilled to see that water flowed out.
"Here's running water," said Graham. "I am so happy."
Graham knows the recommendation by county and city officials when it comes to water from the tap right now.
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"Fifteen minutes to run it through the pipes when you first turn it on, then boil it," she said.
The boiling for one minute will make the water safe for drinking and cooking.
Also in Fairview, clean-up continues for Turgua Brewing's taproom. Its owner, Philip Desenne, hopes to get back open by this weekend.
"We have well water," said Desenne. "We have power."
Desenne showed News 13 where 1.5 feet of flooding damaged the well tap head after an object hit it. It has been repaired and water is flowing.
"We have to shock the well. We're going to be chlorinating it, so we can be operational."
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Desenne and his family and staff are focused on passing the required inspections to get back running.
It'll be week three on Friday that we've been closed. I've got my staff. We've got bills piling up. We need to get back operational. More than that, it's also about a sense of community. People want a little bit of normalcy in the area to come back and share their stories," he said.
"We are survivors, that's how I feel about it," said Melinda Vetro, who has owned Old Europe Pastries in downtown Asheville for twenty years.
The water flowing into her shop has allowed Vetro and her staff to clean and she said most importantly, have working toilets.
"We've been giving out croissants for 18 days and coffee to just cheer people up," Vetro said.
She has had people break down and cry because they are so grateful for a cup of coffee or something warm to eat.
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When it came to water flowing yesterday, she was thrilled.
"We were happy we can clean and boil it, and tomorrow, we can have people coming in. Even if the espresso machine doesn't work, you can sit down and have a little glass of champagne," she said.
They are steps forward from the hardship of being without water and a step towards returning to some normalcy.
As of Tuesday night, West Asheville was still without water.
But, News 13 could hear pressure at spigots, which is an indicator that water could be flowing soon as the city system continues to get pressurized to push water out to neighborhoods that do not yet have it, including Candler and Enka.