All posts by Erin McNeely

Behind the Scenes, Employee Spotlights

Engineers Week Spotlight: Richelle Hines, Engineering Project Manager

In honor of Engineers Week 2020, we asked one of your very own engineers to share their insights and experiences with us, and ultimately share why they love what they do. This article is written by Richelle Hines, an Engineering Project Manager here at Charlotte Water, who shares the “magic” behind what it means to be an engineer.

As an engineer I feel like a magician. I fell in love with wastewater when I toured a plant in college. When you think about everything that is in our wastewater and seeing how we treat it to be cleaner than the water in the river, now that’s magic! Our distribution system is amazing also. You can’t see it except for a manhole lid or water valve cover, but our system stretches miles underground. We collect wastewater from over 260,000 customers and send it to one of our five treatment plants to work our magic. On our drinking water side, it is just as amazing with having three drinking water plants and delivering this water to over 290,000 customers! Magic!

As a project manager I design and review plans to make sure they meet our standards. What that entails is ensuring the pipe is at an appropriate depth, we choose the right material, our slope is between our allowable limits, etc. When we review the plans we try to address construction issues and constraints that may come up.  My favorite part of the job is helping residents. I get calls from residents asking why we are painting lines on the road and I explain how we are locating utilities. I’ll get questions asking what survey crews are doing and if the flag colors have specific meaning. I’ll also get high level questions regarding how a project will affect their property. I like to be transparent and put myself in the customer’s situation when helping them.

As an engineer you are thinking about current issues we face while also looking at the future. When we design water and wastewater distribution systems it’s a balancing act of predicting what future growth we expect while also realizing that the larger our water and wastewater pipes and system are the more money they cost to build and maintain.

It’s easy for our industry to be taken for granted. We turn on the faucet and water comes out. We flush our toilets and water disappears. Our system is out of site. Until an issue comes up, we don’t think about it. Engineers are just one part of Charlotte Water. I have to give a shout out to our plant operators who keep our plants running seamlessly. Charlotte Water also has amazing field operators who maintain our distribution system and make emergency repairs at all hours of the night. During weather events that shut down the city, our staff is still working 24/7.

Being an engineer is a dynamic job that is sometimes hard to explain what we do on a day to day basis. I enjoy working for Charlotte Water and the service side of helping out the community. Next time you turn on the tap or flush your toilet think about the engineering that goes behind making it happen!

Construction, Repairs and Spills

How Recent Heavy Rains Caused This Wastewater Spill

On Friday, February 7, 2020, Charlotte Water crews responded to a broken wastewater pipe off of the Stewart Creek Greenway near 1721 Lela Avenue. Elevated rain levels and flooding from the inclement weather the day before caused part of the creek bank of Stewart Creek to wash away, undermining the wastewater pipe. An estimated 2,163,000 gallons reached Stewart Creek in the Catawba River Watershed.

Heavy rains on February 6, 2020 washed away the stream bank beside Stewart Creek Greenway, causing the wastewater pipe to fall into the creek, and separate at the joints.

Crews set up temporary pipes and multiple pumps to divert the community’s wastewater around the broken pipe to a manhole downstream. This incident did not impact our drinking water quality and no service interruptions occurred. Residents and their pets were encouraged to avoid contact with Stewart Creek.

Greenway Closed

For the safety of the public, Mecklenburg County crews closed Stewart Creek Greenway during repairs.

Greenway closure map updated on February 25, 2020

Next Steps

With additional rain in the forecast, crews will continuously monitor this area to reduce the risk of additional overflows. Heavy equipment will be delivered to the area near the intersection of Walnut Avenue and Lela Avenue.

Crews are also working upstream near Tuckaseegee Road to enhance a stream bank that eroded and could potentially damage wastewater pipe.

Charlotte Water flew a drone over the spill location to analyze the pipe damage and stream bank erosion.

Questions and Answers:

How does CLTWater handle heavy rains and prevent spills?

The underground sanitary sewer pipe network is not designed to handle rain, yet the runoff and flooding from large rains inevitably infiltrate the wastewater pipe network. Overflow basins at the five largest wastewater treatment plants capture and later treat more than 100 million gallons of rainwater mixed with wastewater. Throughout the storm, all plants operated well and no spills occurred at any Charlotte Water plant. These equalization basins (EQ basin) help prevent wastewater from overflowing out of manholes in our community.

CLTWater has also added several large wastewater pipes to help reduce the impact of heavy rains. Crews work to prevent rainwater from getting into the sanitary sewer system and are out investigating our system soon after a storm ends.

What is the largest wastewater spill in CLTWater history?

The three largest spills were all caused by heavy storms eroding creek banks causing pipe collapse.

  1. April 15, 2018, into Long Creek spill (15.4 million gallons).
  2. October 25, 2017, into Mallard Creek (4.8 million gallons).
  3. May 22, 2003, into McAlpine Creek (4.752 million gallons).

Charlotte Water continues to drive down the number of wastewater spills each year. In 2019, Charlotte Water collected and treated 99.99% of the community’s wastewater.

Have a question you’d like to ask? Feel free to contact us: ccoley@charlottenc.gov

Behind the Scenes, Employee Spotlights

Creating Utility Careers: Charlotte Water’s Employment Programs

“Trust the process.” That is what Training Specialist Sherri Jones says to participants of Charlotte Water’s employment programs. Beginning a new career is never easy, but with the right mindset and tools for success, anything is possible.

Earlier this year, Charlotte Water began developing programs that would provide participants with on-the-job experience, and a clear path for training and success. Those programs are the Pipeline Academy and the Apprenticeship Program. Both programs offer a foundation for a successful career with Charlotte Water. But the main difference is that one program is able to guarantee employment upon successful completion, while the other cannot make that same guarantee.

The Pipeline Academy is our internship program. This program operates like other internship programs, in the sense that companies do not always guarantee that they will be able to offer you a job at the end of your placement. But, if you thrive, and there is an opportunity available, then every effort would be made to hire that participant. The academy’s first cohort of 10 interns started in February of 2019; 9 of the 10 interns completed in August, and all 9 were hired as full-time employees for Charlotte Water.

The Apprenticeship Program is similar to the Pipeline Academy, but this year-long program guarantees a job to participants upon successful completion. The only requirements to apply are that you are 18 years old, have a valid drivers licence, have a high school degree or GED, and you have the ability and passion to work hard and learn. Through the program, participants will have the ability to attend trainings, obtain certifications, obtain all city benefits, and have opportunities to grow and develop within Charlotte Water. As the program continues to grow and develop, Charlotte Water’s training specialists are partnering with others in the community to be able to provide wraparound services to its program participants.

Charlotte Water’s employment programs have been so successful that the City of Charlotte began a program called Career Pathways. Their first group included 49 interns across seven city departments.

Be on the lookout for upcoming spotlight stories on our past and present program participants!

Flow Free, What's Going On?

Award-Winning Utility: The Pipes Hate Wipes Campaign

After discovering that 40% of Charlotte’s sanitary sewer overflows were being caused by debris including wipes, we knew something needed to be done. That’s when the idea for the campaign was born.

Earlier this year, the “Pipes Hate Wipes” campaign was created in an effort to make our growing community aware of a serious issue that is not always fun to talk about, but really needed to be addressed. After seeing that the majority cause of sanitary sewer spills shifted from grease to debris that largely included wipes, Charlotte Water felt that an educational campaign was needed before the issue continued to “build up”.

Following months of planning, we partnered with a local production company to produce seven commercials in well-known areas all around the Queen City – including the airport, Belk Theatre, a Hornets game, and the French Quarter in uptown, just to name a few. The inspired idea behind the commercials, was to have the pipe and wipe get into arguments, and even “break up” with each other, out in public for everyone to see.

After a successful launch, the campaign reached thousands across the region through media recognition from local news stations, social media influencers, and billboards.

Following all of the success came the recognition – the campaign won a total of three awards throughout 2019!

Overall, 10% of the Mecklenburg County population was reached through the campaign, and based on their response, it was clear that residents were shocked to see the damage that these wipes were causing. They really had no clue that these so-called “flushable” wipes are not so kind to our pipes.

As for the future of the campaign, we are focusing on targeting areas with a high number of spills, and continuing to advertise the campaign and the “Flow Free” message. As always, we are continuing to monitor the number of spills, and the impact that our message is having on those numbers. Help us spread the word – pipes hate wipes!