CHARLOTTE — Anyone who gets water from the Catawba River will have to follow restrictions because of our drought conditions, so Channel 9’s Joe Bruno got an inside look at how this is impacting operations at water treatment plants.
At the Franklin Water Treatment Plant in northwest Charlotte, workers are paying attention to how they’re using the water that comes in.
“We’re fortunate within our watershed or from our water sources, it’s consistent water quality, and so the treatment process doesn’t change very much. What does change is how we manage the resource itself,” said Micah Burgess, the utilities manager at the plant.
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Back when the plant opened in 1959, it was providing 12 million gallons of drinking water per day. Now, it treats more than 181 million gallons per day.
Burgess walked Bruno through the hours-long technical process that involves pulling water from Mountain Island Lake, adding in powdered activated carbon and other chemicals to separate contaminants and clean the water.
Part of the process is like a giant Brita filter; it’s called air scouring. After water goes through part of its treatment journey, it’s drawn down, blowers are turned on and all of that compressed air pushes out and filters the water to make it clean.
As the water treatment continues, Burgess stresses the importance of everyone else playing a role to make sure Charlotte has water to clean and drink.
“Your water source is a very important resource, and so being mindful of how we use that water is really important,” Burgess said.
He hopes people follow the mandatory restrictions of limiting lawn irrigation, not washing cars at home, and not power washing.
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“We’re primarily focused on non-essential water usage, and so our drought management strategy is going to change if the drought gets worse,” Burgess said.
He says the goal with these restrictions is to reduce water use by 5 to 10 percent. How long they will last depends on Mother Nature. One good rain will not get us out of this.