Charlotte Water is once again providing reclaimed water to customers in the University Area, after a 10-year hiatus. Charlotte Water’s Mallard Creek Water Resource Recovery Facility (WRRF ) produces high-quality reclaimed water that is distributed to permitted users, who use the water for irrigation and cooling tower water. The reclaimed water system was constructed and placed into service in 1997 and provided permitted users with high quality reclaimed water until 2014. When the Mallard Creek WRRF experienced an illicit discharge of PCB’s (Polychlorinated Biphenyls) in 2014, the Reclaimed Water System was shut down to protect permitted user’s systems from potential contamination.
Following the illicit PCB discharge to the Mallard Creek WRRF, the facility underwent a lengthy decontamination process in order to ensure the facility was free of PCBs. After the decontamination process, the Mallard Creek WRRF was due for Improvements and Capacity Expansion, due to the growth in the University Area. As the Improvements and Capacity Expansion were nearing completion, discussions with previous and potential new reclaimed water users began, and a timeline was set for the Reclaimed Water System to be re-activated. The goal was to have the Reclaimed Water System back in service by the Summer of 2024.
The work to get the Reclaimed Water System back in service started in the early part of 2023. Charlotte Water’s Environmental Management Division (EMD) started discussions throughout the department to plan for restarting the Reclaimed Water System after being dormant for 10 years.The various groups within Charlotte Water that came together for this effort included; Field Operations, Engineering, Water Treatment, Maintenance, Backflow, Customer Service, IT, and Laboratory Services. This cross-functional team, with Leadership from Billy Allen (CLTWater’s Reclaimed Water System Coordinator), successfully conducted major required activities to get the system ready for operation once again.The major activities that needed to take place, included locating all valves and air release stations, exercising valves, testing backflow preventers, rebuilding air release stations, clearing right of ways, flushing of the reclaimed water pipelines with potable water, pressure testing the system with potable water, repairing two significant leaks, final flushing with reclaimed water, and sampling of the reclaimed water to ensure reclaimed water quality standards are being met.
Once the hard work from this cross-functional team was complete, Charlotte Water was ready to place the Reclaimed Water System back into service for the first time in 10 years. On the morning of November 7th, a team from Charlotte Water’s EMD and Maintenance Divisions, completed the Switchover from Potable Water to Reclaimed Water, at The Tradition Golf Course, which Mecklenburg County owns. CLTWater EMD and Maintenance Division Staff accompanied Pinnacle Golf Staff (the contract golf course operator for Mecklenburg County) onto the course, to observe them restarting their irrigation system on reclaimed water and were able to confirm the successful transition back to reclaimed water, by seeing reclaimed water applied to the green on hole 16.
Currently, the only user that is actively receiving Reclaimed Water is The Tradition Golf Course, however the University of North Carolina Charlotte (UNCC) hopes to begin receiving and utilizing reclaimed water sometime in 2025. UNCC constructed a reclaimed water pipeline on their campus in 2022. CLTWater is also looking at ways to further expand the Reclaimed Water System in the University Area, as the use of reclaimed water offsets the use of potable water for irrigation and cooling tower water, as it reduces the impact on Charlotte Water’s Inter-Basin Transfer (IBT ) Certificate.
Many Charlotte Water Staff Members contributed greatly to this monumental effort, and everyone who participated should be extremely proud of this accomplishment! The Restarting of the Reclaimed Water System could not have happened without your hard work and dedication. A special recognition to the efforts of Rogers Brown, Corey Butler, Larry Davis, Don Rivers, and Shuhurah Lee, who all helped immensely with this effort in the field, during the past few months!
