(ASHEVILLE) --  North Carolina's water is brewing up jobs, as beer increasingly helps to shape the economy of the western part of the state. Three national craft breweries have chosen to locate in the area this year: Oskar Blues will open its facility in Brevard in December, followed by Sierra Nevada and New Belgium Brewing on the banks of the French Broad River in Asheville.

Among their reasons cited for choosing what's now being referred to as "Beer City" is the area's clean water, says Karen Cragnolin. She is the executive director of Riverlink, a nonprofit group working to revitalize the French Broad.

"They wouldn't be here if the water was not clean. We have three new breweries here - the second and third-largest craft breweries in the U.S. It's imperative that we take care of our water."

Cragnolin and others are concerned about North Carolina's continued water quality, since funding has been drastically reduced to the state's Clean Water Management Trust Fund. At its peak in 2005, the fund was awarded $100 million annually by the state Legislature, but recent funding is just $10 million - a 90 percent decrease.

In Asheville, Riverlink was given a grant of $400,000 to help complete improvements that New Belgium Brewing has initiated for storm water management. According to published reports, the Colorado-based brewery is investing $175 million in the site, with plans to employ 150 people. Asheville was chosen over competing cities such as Philadelphia, notes Cragnolin.

"It makes a difference; it makes it a place that people want to live. You know, in the old days, people moved to where the jobs are - and now, with this changing economy, we have more and more people who actually pick a place to live and then create a job."

Construction of the New Belgium facility will support an estimated 1200 jobs. When the new brewery opens in 2015, the average wage will be $50,000 a year - 43 percent higher than Buncombe County's average wage.