Tag Archives: Report

My Water, Water Quality

Current Fire Hydrant Permit Decal

Any company using a fire hydrant to draw water must have a 2026-2028 Blue Fire Hydrant Permit Decal affixed to the back or side of its equipment.

The Charlotte Water fire hydrant program provides temporary service for customers in Mecklenburg County for authorized use of public fire hydrants. Hydrants are part of the water distribution system and are essential to public safety, public health, and customer service to our community. Charlotte Fire Department (CFD) and Charlotte Water (CLTWater) are the only two organizations authorized to access the fire hydrants without a special permit.

You play a crucial role in the Hydrant Permit Program.
If you notice a company using a fire hydrant without the proper Fire Hydrant Permit Decal, immediately report it to Charlotte Water by calling 311 or 704-336-7600.

Please provide the following information:

  • Time and Location of Occurrence, including any address or cross streets.
  • Description of Vehicle or Assembly, including Company Name.
  • License Plate Number, Name of Operator, or description of individuals.

For more information about the Charlotte Water Hydrant Program and to obtain a permit, please go to https://www.charlottenc.gov/water/DevelopmentBusiness/Fire-Hydrant-Use-Program

My Water, Water Quality

How to Report Unauthorized Hydrant Use

Is a company using a fire hydrant on your street?

If so look for the blue hydrant decal. This decal proves they are authorized to use the hydrant and pay for the water they use. 

blue hydrant decal for authorized use of hydrants. this is just a sample.
A blue hydrant decal for authorized use of hydrants. This is just a sample.

CLTWater maintains more than 18,000 hydrants throughout the county. The Charlotte Fire Department and CLTWater periodically use hydrants for fire response, water-quality testing, and to serve contractors and other vendors.

Authorized Users are:

  • Street cleaning vehicles, irrigation trucks, and vendors with truck-mounted tanks that have a hydrant decal on the back of the tank or truck.
  • Fire Departments
  • CLTWater staff

If you see a use of a hydrant, please:
1. Look for yellow hydrant decal on the back of the tank or truck. If there is one, then it is likely authorized. If people are behaving suspiciously then proceed with below steps.

2. Write down

– Name of the company on truck

– License tag number

– Location of hydrant

– Time of the illegal usage.

3. Take a photo if possible.

4. Call 311 or 704-336-7600 and ask to speak to CLTWater Customer Service Dispatch.

Note: Hydrants may also have a device attached to them. These are temporary hydrant meters that help us accurately bill water use. Learn more at charlottewater.org or call 311 or 704-336-7600.

My Water, Wastewater

Annual Wastewater Report Released

Did you know that there is an annual report for wastewater? If you answered “no” then here is all you need to know about the people who make sure your flush doesn’t become a mess.

When you flush, shower, or wash dishes, the wastewater flows from your plumbing to our public wastewater network of pipes. The wastewater then flows by gravity to one of our wastewater treatment plants so that it can be treated and safely discharged back into the creeks.

WasteWaterTreatment_Infographic

So how did we do?

Even as the population grows, Charlotte Water continues to reduce the number of wastewater spills.

Yearly SSOs vs 5 Year Moving Average

Charlotte Water successfully collected and treated 99.9 percent of the more than 33 billion gallons of wastewater that the community produced in the past fiscal year. Charlotte Water’s annual report includes all incidents where wastewater escaped out of a public manhole or public collection system pipe before reaching proper treatment and reportable spills, which are any spills that equal or exceed 1,000 gallons or more reaching creeks.

Fiscal year 2018 2019
All spills 164 162
Reportable spills 107 90

How To Help:

Toss in the trash: paper towels, wipes, hair, cotton swabs, feminine products, dental floss, coffee grounds, and excess food.

Toss in the toilet: only toilet paper.

Kitchen sink: soap suds, small amounts of foods from plate, and liquids (no fats, oils, or grease).

Take to a full-service recycling center: used and expired oils and grease.

Suspect A Sewage Spill?
Call 311 or 704-336-7600. We respond 24 hours-a-day.

cwat_june16_ffposter_englishf

Links To Learn More:

Wastewater report

Videos about our excellent water professionals.

My Water, Water Quality

Response to EWG Water Quality Report

Charlotte Water has reviewed the information presented by the Environmental Working Group (EWG). We are disappointed that the EWG has elected to display the information in this manner. The website implies that Charlotte Water provides something less than a clean, safe and reliable source of drinking water for the Charlotte community.

Charlotte Water’s goal is to first provide the highest quality drinking water to customers and second meet all regulatory standards. All test results are reported to the State of North Carolina and posted on Charlotte Water’s website for the public to review.  Charlotte Water’s state-of-the-art treatment program is routinely recognized and awarded for the quality of water produced.  Treatment processes successfully manage corrosion of metals such as lead and copper and drive down organic materials to control disinfection byproducts. Continuous monitoring of water quality from the source to the tap assures the effectiveness of the treatment processes.  Charlotte Water maintains a network of more than 4,200 miles of pressurized pipes delivering water to homes and businesses 24/7.

The quality of Charlotte’s drinking water and the health and safety implications to our community are too serious to misrepresent. We encourage the public to review the data for themselves, understand the information and ask Charlotte Water any questions about our services.

Information related specifically to the EWG report

  • Seven of the eight constituents referenced by the EWG as a concern are Disinfection Byproducts (DBPs) and reflect results from 2015 monitoring. Disinfection byproducts are formed when temperatures are high, pH is high and organics are present. There was an upward trend in DBPs in 2015 due to elevated bromide levels in our source (untreated) water which we wrote about and conducted a press conference. As soon as the trend was discovered Charlotte Water took swift action to notify the public, locate the source of upward trend, work to remove the impact and simultaneously manage the water quality provided to customers to keep them safe.
  • In order to achieve compliance with the EPA’s Stage II DBP Rule, the locational running annual average (LRAA) of each monitoring location sampled within Charlotte Water’s distribution system must be less than 80 ppb THM and 60 ppb HAA.  Charlotte Water is well within those water quality requirements.  Currently, Charlotte Water’s highest THM LRAA is 47.9 ppb while the highest HAA LRAA is 12.3 ppb.
  • Our treatment process is designed to first reduce the concentration of organic material in the source water, measured as total organic carbon (TOC), and followed by disinfection utilizing chlorine.  Natural organic material is a primary precursor for the formation of THMs when chlorine is utilized for disinfection.  Placing chlorination after organics removal in the treatment process results in less available organic material for chlorine to react with and limits the formation potential of THMs.  Other factors such as temperature and water age also play a significant role in the formation of THMs, with higher temperatures and longer water age resulting in higher THM concentrations.    Because Charlotte Water’s distribution system is so vast with over 4200 miles of pipeline, programmable flushing devices are utilized throughout the system to reduce water age.  In addition, elevated storage tanks are operated at lower levels during the summer months.
  • Charlotte Water supplies drinking water that has gone through a 6-stage treatment process to ensure the highest quality.
  • Every residential customer in Mecklenburg County received the 2016 Drinking Water Quality report by mail in June 2017.  A list of water quality parameters that were not detected in Charlotte’s drinking water is on the Charlotte Water website.
  • The EWG website cites information that is incorrect. Charlotte Water has not had any water quality violations in this time period.  Charlotte Water never exceeded the THM/HAA LRAA limits during the timeframe referenced below.  In fact, no individual data point exceeded the 80/60 levels for either constituent during this period (4th Qtr 2014, 1st Qtr 2015 and 2nd Qtr 2015). Follow up conversation with State regulators today confirms this information. A website glitch is the best explanation for the information the EWG cited. We’ve encountered this recently with both the State and EPA websites displaying incorrect information and then Charlotte Water has to make the accurate information available.
  • The EWG report compares reported results for Safe Drinking Water Act compliance to the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment’s health guidelines for some contaminants.  These health guidelines are not regulatory standards but are specific to California and the requirements for setting drinking water standards in that state. There are no established health guidelines for drinking water quality in North Carolina other than what is required by the Safe Drinking Water Act which is regulated by EPA and the NC Department of Environmental Quality.