How freezing temperatures strain Charlotte’s water system and put pipes at risk

CHARLOTTE — As a prolonged stretch of below-freezing temperatures grips the Charlotte area, water officials said the cold can stress the city’s water system, leading to more leaks and breaks, especially in pipes closer to homes.

Channel 9’s climate reporter Michelle Alfini explains what parts of the system are most vulnerable and what can be done to protect pipes.

“Anytime we have extreme temperatures, we’re going to see impacts to the soil and that’s going to impact our water pipes,” said Charlotte Water spokesman Cam Coley.

Prolonged cold snaps cause increased leaks and breaks from city service lines, Coley said.

“We know there are going to be repairs,” he said. “We’re just going to triage it, get to the highest priorities, the emergencies, the ones that are causing property damage, water outages.”

The frost line is 12 inches below ground in Mecklenburg County.

Charlotte Water buries its main pipes at least three feet down and even deeper for bigger ones, which is why they said freezing isn’t usually the cause of the big breaks.

The cause usually is soil movement closer to the surface.

Cold air makes the soil contract and it expands again when temperatures warm up.

Heat waves can cause similar shifts.

“Which can cause things to shift underground, which can then cause possible breaks,” Coley said.

Frozen pipes are possible but they’re just much more likely to happen closer to your home.

The most vulnerable part of your system, including your water meter or places where your pipes go into your crawlspace or basement --- anywhere those pipes can be in contact with cold air.

“If you have anything, a pipe, some plumbing in your attic, or in a crawl space, that’s likely to get very cold air to it, then any insulation it can even be something as simple as newspaper --- covering it to help just take that cold frost off of the exposed pipe,” Coley said.

Those pipes are usually buried much deeper in cooler climates.

Coley said Charlotte’s pipes are deep enough to be well-insulated.

The more effective way to prevent breaks is to catch leaks as quickly as possible.