Advisory Committee
FY15 Annual Report
This document summarizes the work of the Charlotte Water Advisory Committee and
Charlotte Water’s operations during the fiscal year ending June 30, 2015.
WATER AND SEWER SYSTEM AND SERVICES
Charlotte Water’s public water and sewer system is funded entirely by water and sewer fees, not
tax revenues. The system includes two drinking water intakes from Mountain Island Lake and
Lake Norman, three water treatment plants, five wastewater treatment plants, 76 lift stations,
and combined total of around 8,400 miles of water distribution and wastewater collection pipes.
Nearly 800 water and wastewater professionals operate and maintain the system while serving
roughly 818,000 citizens via more than 247,000 water service connections and 267,000 sewer
connections.
During fiscal year 15, Charlotte Water safely treated and delivered more than 100.63 million
gallons of drinking water to customers daily. Staff also collected, processed and returned about
80.95 million gallons of treated wastewater, also called effluent, back into our local waterways
each day.
ADVISORY COMMITTEE
The seven-member Charlotte Water Advisory Committee operates under a City-County agreement,
with designated roles and duties, which include:
• Reviewing and making recommendations to Charlotte City Council (CCC) regarding annual
water and sewer community improvement projects.
• Reviewing and making recommendations to Charlotte City Council (CCC) about proposed
changes in water and sewer rate and fee methodologies and proposed policy changes for
water and sewer extensions.
• Reviewing and making recommendations regarding
requests for: (1) specific water and sewer system
extensions (if not approved in a reasonable time
by the Director) and (2) proposing changes to
specifications for installing water and sewer facilities
that have not been approved by the Director.
• Attending public hearings on any matter required by
City Council.
• Presenting an annual report on the operations
of Charlotte Water and activities of the Advisory
Committee to Charlotte City Council and Mecklenburg County.
The Advisory Committee typically meets the third Thursday afternoon each month at the Charlotte
Water Environmental Services Facility, 4222 Westmont Drive in Charlotte. The group’s meeting
schedule is posted at charlottewater.org
Committee members are appointed to three-year terms, and may be appointed for up to two full
terms (plus filling an unexpired term). Three appointments are made by the Mecklenburg County
Board of Commissioners, three by Charlotte City Council and one by the Mayor of Charlotte.
Except for a towns representative,
A MONTH BY THE NUMBERS
committee members must be actively
involved in one of these categories:
• Civil engineer specializing in
water/sewer construction
• Neighborhood leader
• Water and/or sewer contractor
• Real estate developer and
• Financial expert.
3 Billion
2.5 Billion
$1.4 Million
277,300
41,600
30 Mins
9,600
350
102
19
allons of drinking water produced
G
Gallons of wastewater treated
Power + Chemical cost
Meters read
Water/sewer calls received by 311
Average time to respond to sewer spill
Water services turned on/off
Water leaks repaired (total)
Water leaks repaired within 24 hours
Sewer spills stopped & remediated
ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS
Name
Category
Appointed By
Term Expiration
Pride Patton Jr.
Contractor
City
June 30, 2017
Jim Duke
Neighborhood
Charlotte Mayor
June 30, 2016
Frank McMahan
Engineer
County
June 30, 2017
James Merrifield
Ralph Messera
Developer
Towns
County
City
June 30, 2015
June 30, 2018
Leslie Jones
Engineer
City
June 30, 2018
Ron Charbonneau
Neighborhood
County
June 30, 2016
Charlotte Water FY15
Financial Update
Advisory Committee members remained engaged and informed throughout the year regarding Charlotte
Water’s finances and long-term rate and financial planning model. Lower per capita water consumption
presents challenges yet Charlotte Water met its budget and financial goals. Having received monthly
updates and presentations on the operating and capital budget, updated rate setting methodology and
revenue manual revisions were introduced by staff. The approved revenue manual includes several
changes to programs. First, the rate methodology was changed to recover the full cost of service in Tier
One. Second, the Availability and Capacity fees were increased to stabilize revenues. Third, Charlotte
Water has begun a program to install meters on temporary hydrant connections to accurately measure
water used rather than use an estimated flat fee for those connections. In addition, with this manual
revision, development user fees were included for the first time to collect costs associated with plan
review, permitting and inspection. Charlotte Water also updated several other miscellaneous customerbilling fees to reflect changes in costs and policies.
Charlotte Water’s Aaa bond rating by Moody’s investor services was confirmed. Charlotte water holds the
highest bond credit rating available from all three of the largest credit rating agencies which demonstrates
the utilitiy’s financial and operational strength.
Operations and Service Delivery
Advisory Committee members stayed informed about a variety of operational responses including
the Billing Cycle Alignment (BCA) project. Charlotte Water services over 250,000 residential and
commercial accounts. In order to effectively produce a monthly bill, Charlotte Water captures water
meter data through 19 meter reading cycles that include between 4,000-20,000 accounts within each
cycle. The objective of the BCA is to realign billing cycles for better route efficiency, present a monthly
bill with no more than 32 days of service, reduce the time between meter reading and billing to no more
than 10 days, and to have better response time to our customers who may experience an unusual bill.
All BCA processes were completed succesfully by May 2015.
Biosolids Permitting: Biosolids are recycled through land application
on more than 12,000 acres of private farmland in our region. Each of
these sites must be permitted with the North Carolina Department of
Environment and Natural Resources or the South Carolina Department
of Health and Environmental Control. The State of North Carolina
permits expired March of 2015, Charlotte Water filed the application
and was able to renew the permit and maintained a permitted land
base of about 6,000 acres between NC and SC. Charlotte Water only
uses about 4,000 acres each year.
Re Branding: After researching how the CMUD brand resonated with customers, it was decided that
to better represent the work we do, our name needed to be changed. The new name, Charlotte Water,
better reflects an identity we already have and can build upon; which is that we are one of the country’s
best water services with a reputation for providing a reliable supply of clean, safe, good tasting water
and an ongoing commitment to the both the environment, public health, and safety. Charlotte Water is
working through a multi year plan to re brand all assets while not placing extra burden on the budget.
PCB Spill: FY 2015 saw the continuing decontamination of the Mallard Creek Wastewater Treatment
Plant after the illegal PCB dumping event that occurred February 2014. Charlotte Water staff has
worked with regulators and peers to design and implement decontamination plans that contribute to
an industry standard for these types of treatment plant impacts. Although this event marked one of
the worst contamination events in the utility’s history, customers were never impacted mostly due to
the staff’s quick response during the event and Charlotte Water’s strong commitment to protecting the
environment.
Community Investment Projects
Charlotte Water invests $0.63 out of
every dollar to capital and infrastructure
projects to serve existing customers and
expand services to grow our economy.
Construction is nearly complete on two
new wastewater pipes that will serve
McAlpine Creek and Briar Creek basins.
These projects are valued at more than
$70 million. Staff recently completed
a $25.5 million project to expand
filtration at McAlpine Creek Wastewater
Treatment Plant. More than $18 million
was reinvested to replace or recondition
old drinking water and wastewater
pipes to extend service life.
Charlotte Water Awards
Charlotte Water plants and staff
received numerous awards this year
including: (NCAWWA-WEA) Large
Wastewater Collection System of the Year Award (for the second consecutive year), the
Arthur Sidney Bedell Award from the Water Environment Federation. The Warren G. Fuller
Award, Directors Award in the Partnership for Safe Water’s Distribution System Optimization Program, North Carolina Area Wide Optimization Program Award, numerous Gold
and Silver awards from the Safety and Health Council of NC Safety Awards, and two City
Manager’s Awards.