Category Archives: What’s Going On?

Events, What's Going On?

Charlotte Water Celebrates National Drinking Water Week 2022

From May 1-7, 2022, Charlotte Water joined water utilities and professional organizations across the country in celebrating National Drinking Water Week. This annual awareness event is a wonderful opportunity for our entire community to recognize the vital role of water in our daily lives.

Keep an eye around Charlotte’s many Little Free Libraries (https://littlefreelibrary.org/) for copies of the book Why Water’s Worth It that our staff donated around town!

Last week, Charlotte Water also connected with youth across Mecklenburg County by conducting read along events at schools and community partners and donating copies of the book to their permanent libraries.

The 2022 Water Week theme: “There When You Need It,” underscores different aspects of the reliability of our drinking water. In just one day, think about all the ways you use clean drinking water in your daily routine. From basic hygiene like brushing our teeth, cooking water, and hydrating our bodies and our pets. It’s also a great reminder that there are still many places that do not have access to clean and reliable water resources.

To participate in water awareness activities for Water Week (or any time of the year!), you and your family can purchase a copy of the book online, watch a read along on YouTube, or do a free activity book provided by the American Waterworks Association.

This week and every week is a great opportunity to learn more about the importance of clean drinking water and the essential role we have as a community to protect and share this vital resource. Visit charlottewater.org to learn more about how you can celebrate drinking water in your life!

Events, What's Going On?

National Drinking Water Week 2021

Happy National Drinking Water Week! This year Water Week will be celebrated from Sunday, May 2, through Saturday, May 8. Charlotte Water will be celebrating by recognizing some of our various divisions who help to exemplify this year’s theme: there when you need it. Each member of our staff plays a role in providing drinking water to the community, and we’re excited to share some examples of a “day in the life” of some of our hardworking staff members.

This year we have also partnered with Carolina Raptor Center and will be kicking off Water Week with a free Trail Day at their center! Be sure to follow us on social media to stay up to date on all things Water Week, and check out the line up below for the week.

Saturday, May 1

What: Trail Day at Carolina Raptor Center (Free admission)
When: 10am – 12:30pm and 1:30pm – 4pm
Where: 6000 Sample Rd. Huntersville, NC 28078

Visit their Water Day website for more information: http://www.carolinaraptorcenter.org/visit/waterweek/

Sunday May 2

Official start to this year’s National Drinking Water Week!

Visit AWWA to learn more about National Drinking Water Week and its history: https://www.awwa.org/Events-Education/Drinking-Water-Week

Monday, May 3 through Saturday, May 8

This year’s theme for National Drinking Water Week is that water is “there when you need it” – and we are grateful for just that. We are grateful for our staff who work hard behind the scenes every day to keep it that way. It takes a whole team of staff members who contribute to each step of the process to ensure everyone has safe and reliable water every day.

Throughout the week, we will highlight some of our dedicated staff members to show our appreciation and give you a glimpse into a “day in the life” of the work they do. Each day we will spotlight a staff member, and some will even take over our Instagram stories – so be sure to follow along on social media!

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

LinkedIn

Here are the staff members that will be featured during Water Week:

Throughout the week we will also highlight a variety of fun activities for kids of all ages, listed below.

For more educational activities, you can also visit our Distance Learning blog article.

Events, What's Going On?

Sunshine Week 2021

This week, we celebrate Sunshine Week, a week established 15 years ago to promote transparency by bringing awareness to public records and their availability to residents. In honor of Sunshine Week, our Records Program Administrator, Laura Runge, shares some insights on our Records Management Team and their work.

Charlotte Water’s Records Management Team is proud of our department’s commitment to open communication and transparency. We consistently find people across the department who are prompt and willing to help identify the information a resident has requested. In 2020 alone, Charlotte Water had over 100 formal public record requests, and on average, we were able to fulfill those requests in just five calendar days!

All records maintained by Charlotte Water are available for public inspection unless specifically exempted by law. Although most information is public and subject to disclosure, some information is considered protected. For example, we are obligated to protect such things as customer billing information, sensitive public security information, and components of personnel files. 

To request information, we ask that you complete the Public Records Request Form available at https://charlottenc.gov/PublicRecords. Your request will be tracked and you can even view the status of your request as it is assigned, collected, and fulfilled. As a rule, we respond to all requests for information as quickly as possible. While some requests are more complex and require extra time, Charlotte Water on average fulfills a request in 5-7 days. 

News, What's Going On?

Award-Winning Utility: A Look Back at 2020

This year has been a challenging year for all of us, in more ways than one. Even in the face of many challenges, we continued with our hard work and day-to-day operations and continued to be an award-winning utility.

As the year comes to a close, we take a moment to look back and recognize our utility and our staff for their hard work during this uncertain year. This year many award ceremonies were held virtually, including NCAWA, which held their 50th anniversary awards ceremony and recognized our utility during this conference.

McAlpine Wastewater Treatment Plant, Platinum Peak Performance Award winner (photo taken in 2019)
McDowell Wastewater Treatment Plant, Platinum Peak Performance Award winner (photo taken in 2019)

NC AWWA-WEA Awards

  • Platinum Peak Performance Award: McAlpine Wastewater Treatment Plant and McDowell Wastewater Treatment Plant
  • Gold Peak Performance Award: Sugar Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant, Mallard Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant, Oxford Glen Wastewater Treatment Plant
  • Silver Peak Performance Award: Irwin Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant, Ashe Plantation Wastewater Treatment Plant
  • Charlotte Water Deputy Director, Ron Hargrove: George Warren Fuller Award
  • Sugar Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant Supervisor, Billy Allen: Arthur Sidney Bedell Award

NC AWWA-WEA Virtual Operations Challenge & Awards

  • Women of Wastewater (represented by Muriel Steele and Trinh Nguyen): 2nd place in Division 2
  • Weir#1 (represented by Will Rice and Matthew Carter): 5th place in Division 3

Charlotte Water was also recognized as a Utility of the Future Today for the fourth year in a row. This program recognizes utilities that exhibit sustainability and resilience in the communities they serve, and this year’s recognition focused largely on partnering and engagement. We were one of 65 utilities recognized this year and one of three utilities recognized for the fourth year in a row.

We are so proud of the great work our utility has accomplished this year, and we will continue our hard work to be an award-winning utility in 2021.


For more information about our awards, please visit the awards page on our website.