At Charlotte Water, we are not just employees, we are also customers. Here are a few reasons why we drink tap water too.

#1 – Charlotte Water’s reliable drinking water treatment plants and distribution system are award winning.

Charlotte Water is a member of the Partnership for Safe Water and our main plant (Franklin) received the Director’s Award for Water Treatment in 2018. Charlotte Water is also a designated Utility of the Future and in 2018 received special recognition for the utility’s work in environmental innovation. Our engineers and plant operators build redundancy into every system from our pipe systems to our computer systems.

#2 – Testing, testing, monitoring, and more testing

Charlotte Water has had perfect drinking water permit compliance since January 2015. [The January 2015 violation was an administrative citation.] Our lab staff conduct more than 200,000 monitoring tests every year on more than 150 different constituents. “A significant part of our job is keeping up with the latest regulatory requirements,” said lab manager Alan Hilling. “The work we do isn’t like you see on TV. There is much more involved than simply putting a sample into a machine, pressing a button, and getting instant results.” Check out our Consumer Confidence Report and Annual Water Quality Report. This year’s Water Quality Report will arrive in your mailbox June 2020.

#3 – A gallon of water is less than a penny!

	Cost per gallon
Gallon of gas	$2.34
Gallon of milk	$2.89
Gallon of ice cream	$3.09
Gallon of detergent	$17.99
Gallon of Charlotte Water	$.003 (a third of a cent)

#4 – Water. It does a body good.

Through the I Heart Water partnership between Charlotte Water and Mecklenburg County Health Department, we know that drinking tap water:

• Fights fatigue
• Helps decrease stress
• Prevents tooth decay
• Fights off dehydration which can lead to poor organ function and illness
• Helps you stay cool when it’s hot outside

#5 – The best pre-beer in town

One of the main reasons the brewing industry is thriving in Charlotte is because of the water here.

We spoke with Carolina Brew Master’s President Richard lane for his opinion. “Water quality is paramount to brewing, as water is easily 95% of the finished product.  At a base level, if the water is good enough to drink, it’s good enough to brew beer.”

He went on to say, “Over 100 years ago, when these local beers were being created, they could not have been developed in the other city, strictly due to the minerals in the water, and how those minerals impact the brewing process.  This is also one reason why “drink local” is so meaningful to the craft beer movement.  An IPA brewed in Charlotte will be different from the same IPA brewed in Colorado, or even Raleigh, because the water profile is different.”

Charlotte Water has been in operation since 1899. We serve more than 108 million gallons of water every day to the Charlotte community.