In July 2025, Charlotte Water faced a significant emergency repair on a water main running along IBM Drive, an essential roadway servicing both commercial and residential areas. The section of the line required urgent repair, but the stakes were high. A complete shutdown would have resulted in water loss for two sizeable businesses as well as a large neighborhood.
The risk of widespread service disruption posed serious consequences for local commerce and daily life. Charlotte Water needed a solution that would allow it to isolate the repair site without interrupting service to its key customers, and our staff rose to the occasion.
“We were able to complete the repair quickly and efficiently without disrupting service to our commercial or residential customers,” said Jason Bromirski, a senior engineer at Charlotte Water. “This is an ideal outcome for such a critical location.”
To maintain service while addressing the damaged main, Charlotte Water installed an insta-valve. The insta-valve can be installed on an existing in-service main and allows us to perform maintenance or repairs without shutting down nearby blocks of the water distribution system.
Some problems require creative solutions, and Charlotte Water works every day to keep our water safe, reliable and flowing to your homes and businesses.
It may seem surprising, but what you do in your front yard can affect the taste and odor of your drinking water.
How?
Your private plumbing system begins at the end of the meter box. The plumbing in your front yard may be made of PVC, PEX, or other pipe materials that can allow some outside chemical contaminants, such as pesticides and fuels, to seep through their joints.
Why should I care?
Damaging your service line can be costly, often requiring thousands of dollars for replacement. Read the stories below to learn more from real-life events.
Real-Life Examples
– A customer parked their car over the grass between the meter box and their house. The car’s oil leak seeped into the service pipe.
– A customer attempted to eliminate an underground wasp nest by pouring gasoline into the hole. The gas flowed beside the private service line, causing odor and taste issues, and had to be replaced.
– A customer reported a chemical odor and taste that was traced to a painter washing a brush with turpentine and pouring the turpentine on the ground over the water line.
– A customer reported a chemical soapy odor and taste that was traced to a plant fertilizer bottle attached to the hose. A low-pressure event can cause water to be back-siphoned into the house if there is no backflow prevention device.
Tips
Call NC811 before you dig.
Most service lines run straight from the meter box to the home. Is anything leaking above the service line, like a car?
Was anything sprayed or poured on the front yard between the water meter and the home?
Run cold water for 10 minutes to see if the problem continues.
Check all faucets to see if the issue is isolated to one faucet or affects the entire house.
Talk to your neighbors to see if they are experiencing similar issues.
If you notice any unusual odor or taste, call 311 immediately and say or select water quality emergency.
Drain odors can often be mistaken for tap water odors. Pour a glass of water and move away from the sink drain. Smell the glass of water; if no odor, check the drain and perform cleaning.
Aging water heaters can cause odors. If your cold water has no odor but the hot water does, perform maintenance on your water heater as per the manufacturer’s recommendations.
Charlotte Water and the City of Mount Holly celebrated the official commissioning of the Mount Holly Pump Station at Tuckaseege Park. This transformative moment reinforces our commitment to providing the best regional water infrastructure for our community.
Connecting Communities
This commissioning ceremony represents more than just flipping a switch; it’s the culmination of extensive regional collaboration and engineering innovation. The new pump station now connects Mount Holly’s wastewater system to Charlotte Water’s regional network through specially installed pipelines running approximately 65 feet beneath the Catawba River and Long Creek.
How It Works
Wastewater travels from Mount Holly homes and businesses to the new Mount Holly Pump Station
The station then pumps wastewater through underwater pipelines to Charlotte Water’s Long Creek Pump Station
From there, wastewater will be treated at existing Charlotte Water facilities
Partnership for the Future
This commissioning is a huge milestone in the larger Stowe Regional Water Resource Recovery Facility project. By transitioning Mount Holly’s wastewater service to Charlotte Water, we’re creating a more resilient and sustainable system that will protect water quality in the Catawba River while preparing our communities for future growth.
We extend our gratitude to everyone who joined us for this historic celebration. This achievement represents true connection across communities, demonstrating what’s possible when we work together to protect our water resources for generations to come.
If you’ve spent any time around Lake Norman, Mountain Island Lake, or Lake Wylie in recent summers, you might’ve noticed thick, dark, musty-smelling mats floating near the shore. That fuzzy stuff? It’s not harmless lake gunk—it’s a type of algae called Lyngbya, and it’s been quietly spreading across southern reservoirs, turning once-clear waters into mucky messes.
But there’s good news on the horizon.
Starting this month and continuing through September, a coordinated effort is underway to treat Lyngbya in all three lakes. This initiative is led by the Catawba-Wateree Water Management Group, with help from county governments, marine commissions, North Carolina State University, and Duke Energy. The result? A much more streamlined and effective plan to tackle this invasive algae head-on.
What Exactly Is Lyngbya?
Lyngbya (recently reclassified as Microseria wollei) is a type of cyanobacteria—often called blue-green algae—that thrives in warm, nutrient-rich water. Unlike some seasonal algae, Lyngbya doesn’t go away when summer ends. It lives year-round on the lake bottom, then floats to the surface as water temperatures rise, forming dense mats that can clog boat motors, reduce water quality, and frankly, make lakes less enjoyable for everyone.
To give you a sense of how aggressive it can be: in 2024, Lake Gaston on the NC/VA border reported over 1,000 acres of Lyngbya infestation.
What’s Being Done?
For the 2025 season, treatment will cover 60 acres total across the three lakes:
25 acres in Lake Norman
25 acres in Mountain Island Lake
10 acres in Lake Wylie
Monthly treatments will be handled by Aqua Services, Inc., using EPA-approved copper-based algaecides distributed by SePRO Corporation. If you live near the water, expect to see airboats cruising the shoreline mid-month, releasing a bright blue liquid into the water. That’s the algaecide at work—it may look dramatic, but it’s safe for fishing, swimming, and watering your plants.
Will It Work?
The short answer: yes, but it will take time.
Because Lyngbya is tough to kill and can look alive even when it’s not, results won’t be obvious overnight. You might see fewer surface mats this summer, but the real payoff will come after several treatment seasons. This approach mirrors the successful program at Lake Gaston, which is already seeing noticeable reductions in Lyngbya after multiple years of consistent treatment.
What Can You Do?
If you’re a lakefront property owner or just someone who loves spending weekends on the water, stay informed! You can report problem areas or learn more about aquatic vegetation management by emailing AquaticPlants@duke-energy.com or visiting duke-energy.com/AquaticPlants.
Bottom line: Lyngbya might be stubborn, but so are we. With consistent treatment and community awareness, our lakes can stay clean, healthy, and a joy to explore for years to come.
Got questions or curious about what you’re seeing in the water? Drop them in the comments—we’ll help you make sense of the science.
