All posts by Jennifer Frost

Construction, Repairs and Spills

1600 W. Morehead St. Water Main Break

At approximately 4:30 p.m. Sunday, June 23 a water main break near the intersection of W. Morehead St. and Freedom Dr. was reported to 911. Charlotte Fire Department and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department responded and quickly alerted Charlotte Water to the situation.

Intersection of Freedom Drive and W. Morehead Street
Intersection of Freedom Drive and W. Morehead Street

Pavement upheaval, areas of low pressure and temporary localized flooding were caused by the break of a 20″ water main. The cause of the break is unknown at this time. A variety of factors can contribute to water main failure including nearby construction, weather and changes in pressure.

As Charlotte Water crews arrived on the site of the break, staff isolated the break by operating valves in the area. Within about an hour of arriving on the scene, pressure was restored throughout the community. At this time, no customers are without water service.

Repair efforts are underway using Charlotte Water staff and an emergency contractor. Charlotte Water estimates the repair and road reconstruction to take several days. Residents are asked to avoid the area if possible. Detours will be in place during the repair and road reconstruction.

DetourMap
Traffic will not be allowed outbound on Freedom Drive

As repairs are made, customers in the immediate area may experience low pressure or discolored water. Please contact 311 to report low pressure or outages. Customers are asked to flush cold water taps for 15 minutes if they experience discolored water. If discolored water persists, please contact 311. Further updates will be provided.

Projects, What's Going On?

Are you a business owner? Come work with Charlotte Water

Please join Charlotte Water on December 14th at 8 a.m. for “Work with Water”, a vendor networking event. You’ll get a chance to meet other vendors as well as Charlotte Water staff. If you’re not already a vendor with the City but want to work with Charlotte Water, your business can sign up on site to become a vendor.

Capacity is limited to 200 individuals, so please sign up here. The event will be held at the Airport CLT Center 5601 Wilkinson Blvd. Parking is available in the Business Valet Deck just enter from Harlee Avenue and following the event parking signs.

For more information, please contact Frederica Love at flove@charlottenc.gov. Bring your W-9 or Tax ID if you’d like to register on the spot to become a City vendor.

Construction, Repairs and Spills

Heavy Rains Overwhelm Wastewater System

**updated 9/18/2018 4:25 p.m. with estimated spill volumes

Charlotte, NC, September 17, 2018 — On Sunday, September 16, as Tropical Depression Florence moved through the Charlotte metro area, Charlotte Water rapid response crews responded to multiple locations for sanitary sewer overflows (SSO). Heavy rains inundated the sanitary sewer system in eight locations causing wastewater to escape the sanitary sewer collection system.

Below is the current list of rain caused wastewater spills on September 16th with possibly 1,000 or more gallons reaching surface waters:

  • 3624 Huckleberry Rd – Estimated spill volume: 163,200 gallons to McMullen Creek
  • 1026 Montford Dr – Estimated spill volume: 240,000 gallons to Little Hope Creek
  • 3203 Keegan Way – Estimated spill volume: 500,000 gallons to Four Mile Creek
  • 1215 Andover Rd – Estimated spill volume: 225,000 gallons to Briar Creek
  • 2010 Bay St – Estimated spill volume: 115,200 gallons to Briar Creek
  • 8200 Tonawanda Dr – Estimated spill volume: 105,600 gallons to Six Mile Creek
  • 9235 Feldbank Dr – Estimated spill volume: 96,000 gallons to McIntyre Creek
  • 426 Lorna St. – Estimated spill volume: 105,600 gallons to Briar Creek

Charlotte Water’s five main wastewater treatment plants received record amounts of flow Sunday. The underground sanitary sewer pipe network is not designed to handle storm water, yet the runoff and flooding from historic rains inevitably infiltrated the wastewater pipe network. Overflow basins at the five plants that are able to capture and later treat several million gallons of rainwater infiltration quickly filled. But, throughout the storm all plants operated well and no spills occurred at any Charlotte Water plant.

“Though we did have some spills, Charlotte Water’s system overall performed exceptionally well” said Charlotte Water spokesman Jennifer Frost. “The quick decisions and experience by our plant operators and rapid response crews was really on display yesterday. The plants handled hundreds of millions more gallons of extra flow; more than 5 times the usual day’s volumes. The plants didn’t flood, and they didn’t spill. They treated the historic flow without compromising water quality standards.”

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For more than a century, Charlotte Water has been the largest water and wastewater service provider in the Carolinas. Operated by the City of Charlotte, the utility treats more than 106 million gallons of water daily for approximately one million residents and visitors from Davidson to Pineville. Charlotte Water works 24 hours a day to provide clean water, maintain more than 8,600 miles of pipe, and treat the community’s wastewater.

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Behind the Scenes, How Things Work

Hurricane Preparedness from Charlotte Water’s perspective

In advance of Hurricane Florence barreling down on the Carolinas, we have received many questions about Charlotte Water’s system in the event of a major storm.

Our advice: be prepared, but not worried.

Charlotte Water has built redundancies into every aspect of our systems. We have backups for backups. Even in the event that power goes down at a treatment plant, Charlotte Water has a plan. We have high capacity generators, relationships with Duke Energy for support and contracts in place for any resources, like additional fuel, that we may need. Our distribution system has a robust back-up system to make sure water flows to your home, even in major storm events water outages are rare and often localized.  Something to keep in mind toilets will also continue to function normally and do not require electric power to operate.

But like Charlotte Water, the community should also be prepared. That means, putting together a family preparedness kit. If the event takes days to recover or if residents live in an area serviced by a pipe that breaks, make sure you have water on hand. Some tips we’ve heard from others in the community:

  • “Fill your bathtub with water for flushing.”
  • “Fill gallon zip lock bags with water and freeze. This, not only keeps food cold if the power is out, but also gives you a water source.”
  • “Fill up those reusable water bottles!”

Did you know $1 buys you 247 gallons from Charlotte Water? Take time now before the storm to get ready. We at Charlotte Water will be prepared too!

BTW: The water service to your home is independent of your electric service, so a loss of power shouldn’t result in a loss of water.

Stay tuned to the City’s communication channels to stay up to date. And, please remember to use 311 to report outages or water main breaks; you can also request service this way. Use 911 for emergencies only.