Tag Archives: Conservation

General, How Things Work, My Water, Wastewater, Water Quality

A Cautionary Tale…Replace Your Plumbing Before It Becomes An Emergency

For years, as a Charlotte Water employee, I have encouraged customers to plan ahead for the replacement of their private plumbing, especially if their pipes are nearing 50 years. I thought about replacing my plumbing, but I waited too long. Below is my warning to customers in old houses.

I started hearing a dripping sound that I hadn’t heard before. I followed the sound into the basement and traced it back to our private plumbing line coming into the house. It soon went from a dripping noise to several dripping noises.

I quickly called CharMeck 311 (704-336-7600) to request an emergency water turn-off by Charlotte Water Customer Service. The call took just a few minutes, and a field technician was there to turn off our water at the meter in less than an hour.

A Temporary Solution

We used coolers to capture and store the water leaking out of our walls and then used the water to flush toilets later.

I bought a few gallons of distilled water for coffee and a few gallons of purified water for drinking.

How to flush a toilet without water service

  1. Talk to your next-door neighbors to see if you can hook up a hose temporarily to fill containers.
  2. Lift the toilet tank lid off (see picture)
  3. Pour water to the water line mark inside the tank.
  4. You will need to pour at least two gallons per flush.
  5. I refilled containers using a hose connected to my neighbor’s house and refilled each night at a relative’s home.
  6. We put the containers by the toilets to refill the tank and reused small water bottles to wash hands.

Pro tip– designate one or two toilets as the one(s) you plan on using during the outage. Make others off-limits to reduce the number of toilets you must refill.

Pour water to the ‘water line’ mark in the toilet tank.

After replacing our plumbing line, we ran cold water first for several minutes outside spigots/hose bibs and then indoor tubs and water faucets. The water heater took more than an hour to reheat. As a precaution, we tossed out the old ice and the next batch of ice from the automatic ice maker in the fridge.

Everything changes when you don’t have easy access to flowing water. Our children appreciated tap water more and conserved water because they knew it took extra steps. We are so thankful to have a new water line and I hope my experience helps you prevent a similar emergency and provides a few ideas on how to survive it.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are some signs I may have a plumbing leak between the water meter and the house?

If you hear a dripping noise or notice wet spots in your crawlspace or basement or even a greener-than-usual patch of grass on the area between your meter and your house you may have a leak.

How much water do I need each day?

At least a gallon for hand washing, brushing teeth and drinking, so at a bare minimum, you will need seven gallons per person per day to drink, brush, and flush. This doesn’t include showers, laundry, or dishwashing. Consider purchasing paper plates, plastic cups, and utensils.

Any purchased water containers (gallon jugs or small water bottles) can be refilled several times to reduce the cost of purchasing water at a store.

Use any large containers you have around to store and refill toilets.

  • Wet dry vacuum to suck up any water if you experience flooding
  • Coolers
  • Dehumidifier and humidifier tanks
  • If possible, store water in a bathtub and keep a large container to scoop the water out

How can I prevent a plumbing emergency?

If your plumbing is 50+ years old, you should plan in advance to prevent this from happening to you:

  • Talk to your home insurance provider to see if your policy covers water line replacement or if it should be added to your policy.
    • Some homeowners’ insurance only covers the damage (i.e., flooding) and not the plumbing repair.
  • Research alternative insurance options, including home warranty or service line protection plans to see if they would be a good fit for your situation

Find out what your plumbing materials are made of.

  • Lead – installed 1900-1986, dull gray and easily scratched surface, although banned in 1986, installation of lead pipes was very rare in Mecklenburg County.
  • Copper – installed 1930s – present, reddish (like a penny) to dark brown or green, in some cases may contain lead-based solder if home was built before 1986 and hasn’t had plumbing replaced after 1986.
  • Galvanized Steel – 1930-1980s, gray or metallic, may rust internally and externally, limited lifespan.
  • Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) – 1950s – present, white, doesn’t corrode or rust.
  • Polyethylene (PEX) – 1990s to present, many colors (typically red and blue for hot and cold supply lines), flexible to install.

Don’t wait…

  • Get three quotes/price estimates from licensed plumbers.
    • Each plumber may have a different strategy to replace your plumbing
    • Ask a lot of questions
    • Plumbers are very busy and a project like this will need time to schedule.
    • Know what is under your front yard. Do you have buried fiber optic, wastewater pipes, storm drain, etc? Trees can also affect where your service line is installed. Contact NC 811 to learn about what public utilities can be marked and how to find locators that find private lines (well, septic, gas, etc.)
    • Don’t do anything to your plumbing that could possibly cause a leak.

How long will it take for plumbers to install new plumbing?

It can vary. We were without water for seven days before our new plumbing line was installed and service was restored.

Our water pipe repair damaged a sidewalk. Will the City fix the sidewalk?

If your repair requires damaging or removing the sidewalk, you will need to replace the sidewalk. Make sure to get three quotes and ensure that they are trained and able to complete the work to the city / town sidewalk specifications.

Did you know that your plumbing actually starts at the building side of the meter box? Learn more on this blog.

Behind the Scenes, Construction, General, How Things Work, My Water, Repairs and Spills, Water Quality

How Charlotte Water Repairs Water Pipe Leaks

With more than 4,500 miles of drinking water pipe, there is always something to fix. Customers can help by calling 311 or 704-336-7600 when they see or suspect a water leak or water main break. Even after the 311 Call Center is closed customers can say or select ‘water emergency’ to reach our dispatchers 24/7.

Charlotte Water prioritizes leaks so that crews repair emergency leaks first.

The Numbers
• 2,000+ repairs per year. Most are service line repairs (between the water main and meter box).
• There are multiple pipes under major roads (serving immediate areas and zip codes).
• Less than 10% of water pipe infrastructure is over 50 years due to proactive pipe replacement efforts.

Water Pipe Repair Step-By-Step

CLTWater Field Technician installing a flag to mark the leak location.

Investigate

Within hours, a field technician investigates and attempts to repair if it is an easy fix. If it is a leak that requires a construction crew, the technician prioritizes the leak based on severity. Many repairs require coordination with other departments or towns to minimize the impact on customers or drivers.

Staff spray painting where underground utilities are located before digging begins.

Locate

Call NC811 to have other utilities spray paint where their pipes / cables are before digging begins. This can take hours.







Staff turning water off to the leaking water pipe to maintain water to other portions of the neighborhood.

Isolate

Crews turn valves to stop water flowing through the leaking pipe. Crews may attempt to repair the pipe while keeping water in service for customers. Cones and barriers are set up to protect workers.

Excavate

Crews will uncover the pipe to make repairs or replace a section of the pipe. Crews will hand-dig portions to reduce the chance of damaging underground infrastructure.

Restore Water Service

Fire hydrants flow to test water quality before restoring water service to customers.









picture of a crew tamping soil before a compaction test during the phase to rebuild a road after a water leak underground.

Repave and Reopen

Crews will backfill soil into the trench, test compaction, and then repave the road.

Restoration

Straw is placed over dirt if the repair is in a yard. A separate crew or contractor will return several days or weeks later to complete restoration efforts.


What other factors may extend the time between reporting a water leak and the repair?

Crews attempt to repair leaks without a water outage when possible and if there is time will work on solutions to minimize the outage.

Challenges underground

  • Other utilities (fiber, storm water pipes) conflict with the repair and need to be replaced or moved including a large excavation area.
  • Pipe requires full replacement including cutting it out and inserting a new pipe.
  • Repaving depends on the weather. Air temperature is required to be a minimum of 40 degrees and rising in order to properly install asphalt.


Reducing impact on customers

  • Coordinating with Charlotte Department of Transportation, North Carolina Department of Transportation, and/or towns to plan the repair to minimize detours during high traffic times.
  • Installing new valves to minimize the number of customers affected by a water outage.
  • Above ground water pipes may be installed to serve customers if the pipe replacement will take several days to complete.

What caused the water main break / leak?

Unfortunately, since water main breaks occur underground, in most cases we can only speculate as to how exactly the pipe broke. Here are some factors:

  • Construction crews hitting mains while digging for other projects.
  •  Call 811 before you dig to locate the pipes
  • Temperature changes that can cause the soil to expand and contract, putting stress on pipes.
  • Sudden change in water pressure. Quick use of a hydrant to fight a fire or a water main break nearby can cause other pipes to leak.
  • Weak seals or a weakness where two pipes are joined together.
  • Soil conditions (movement, corrosion, extra soil on top pushing down on pipes)

What causes a water main to break?

There are several factors that can cause a pipe to break, including change in temperature, age and external damage.

Who should I call if I see a leak?

If you see or suspect a leak, call 3-1-1 or 704-336-7600 so that Charlotte Water can quickly dispatch a crew to the location. Our dispatchers are working 24/7 so even after CharMeck 311 is closed you can say or select water emergency after the audio greeting to reach our staff.

Learn more at

“Every day, Charlotte Water routinely repairs and maintains water and sewer pipes across our entire service area,” says Charlotte Water Director Angela Charles. “It’s important that we are doing all that we can to keep customers’ trust in our ability to provide clean, safe and reliable water service to the Charlotte region.”

To stay up to date on the most recent events and announcements, follow Charlotte Water on Twitter @CLTWater. For more information on other pipe replacement and restoration projects, visit us at CharlotteWater.org.

General

Fixing at-home Leaks

Tackling at home leaks can be a challenge, but small drops can add up to big dollars on your bill, so we’ve provided some quick tips and tricks to help you save water and money:

  • Identify your main shut of valve to your home in case of emergency. They are usually located where your water service line enters your home and are often found in the garage or crawlspace.
  • Replace toilet flappers every few years, make sure they are the correct size, and do a dye test if you suspect a silent leak.
  • Clean and replace gaskets and aerators in faucets and showerheads.
  • Check for spots in the yard that are always wet in case of an irrigation leak.
  • Water service providers participate in the EPA’s Fix a Leak Week each March to support conservation and increase customer knowledge of at home plumbing! You can visit their webpages for more tips and tricks and even an at-home scavenger hunt you can do with the whole family.

Construction, Infrastructure Improvements

Updated Technology Reveals Details of Water Usage

In the latest move to modernize Charlotte’s infrastructure, Charlotte Water will be updating your water meters with a newer, advanced water meter reading system. This project will take about seven years to completely roll out to all Charlotte residents accordingly to current projections.

“Charlotte Water isn’t changing how we measure water, just how we are reading your meter. We are focusing on providing a better service to our customers and making our operations more efficient,” the project manager for the new advanced water meter project, Jeffrey Jones, wants you to know. 

Currently, residents get monthly updates with their water bill about their water usage. The new transmitter on the water meter will send updates to the cloud every 15 minutes. Residents will be able to see these updates online.

With these updates, residents can spot leaks and adjust usage accordingly. You won’t have to wait until you get your water bill to find out that a toilet upstairs has been running all month. Or that your child is taking hour-long showers. The new updates won’t allow residents to see where the extra water usage is coming from, just when it is. It will be up to residents to determine the source of their higher bills but the extra data will help people to identify problems earlier.

This data will also allow Charlotte Water to anticipate and identify leaks and issues on our end, giving us needed information to better serve customers. We can reallocate resources away from driving meter routes and instead focus on meeting the needs of our customers.

Track your water usage

You will see a read-out like the ones below. The first graph shows an apartment complex’s usage when there is a leak. The second graph shows the same apartment complex’s usage after the leak was fixed. As you can see in the second graph, water usage drops off in the middle of the night when most people are asleep. When water usage is still high during these periods, that indicates a leak. You will have access to graphs like this for your own home. 

Currently, these advanced water meters are only used for a few commercial clients. Charlotte-Douglas International Airport, Bank of America Stadium, Frito-Lay, Lance, and SouthPark Mall all use the new advanced water meters. Pilots are planned for residential customers, also. 

Advanced Meter Infrastructure allows Charlotte Water to create a better experience for Charlotte Water customers. Having greater access to consolidated data allows Charlotte Water to better prepare for droughts, usage surges, changes in water pressure and temperature, etc. It also will help us to spot leaks in the infrastructure more quickly and expedite repairs. 

One project of many to update our infrastructure

This is only the latest step in modernizing our water infrastructure. Before more recent technology was released, Charlotte Water employees had to manually read each water meter. In 2003, the city started a project to replace the water meters with more modern water meters that allow a car to drive by and pick up the readings using radio signals. This saved the city lots of time and money. 

However, this isn’t a perfect system. For the signal to be picked up, the car must be close to the meter. Every month, 1800 meters are missed in this process. This means that employees manually read those meters. These meters are missed due to equipment malfunction (like batteries dying) or damage. 

As our population continues to grow, those missed readings cause increased burdens on the city’s resources. Also, those transmitters are starting to wear so it is time for many of them to be replaced in the next 5+ years. With this modern technology, Charlotte Water will be able to see digitized readings of usage, and the older water meter reading route will end. This will save the city time and resources that could be better utilized elsewhere. 

Residential pilot in Davidson

In the coming months, Charlotte Water is piloting these water meters in the new Davidson Point neighborhood. This location was chosen because the surrounding water meter routes were full due to the growth in the area. Rather than completely redoing the water meter routes, they were a practical choice for a pilot. 

This is all part of phase one of a three-phase launch of these advanced water meters throughout the city. Also, during phase one, we will be working with consultants who launch similar installations around the world to determine changing business needs and communications. This will help us prepare to answer the public’s questions and communicate well about expectations. 

During phase two, Charlotte Water will be installing these meters in 10,000 buildings. They will be selecting 1-2 areas of the city that include a mix of different customers: single-family homes, apartments, and commercial. This beta release will allow Charlotte Water to start training its employees on the new equipment. After the beta release, they will take a break for a year to evaluate what worked, what didn’t, and what changes need to be made to replace the rest of the meters.

Phase three is the big launch. Charlotte Water will be replacing all water meters that are over five years old throughout the city. Meters that are less than five years old can be reprogrammed to work with the new system. This requires replacing 270,000 of 310,000 meters in the Charlotte metro area. This will take about five years to complete with 300 meters being replaced per day. All the transmitters will be replaced to work with the new system. 

More information will be released with each phase. Keep an eye on the city website for more information as the project continues. This is one of several projects that the city is working on to update our infrastructure and support our continued growth. Charlotte continues to prove itself as an up-and-coming city that continues to grow as people see our incredible city.