Water 2050: Uniting water, wastewater and stormwater services

While regulatory, financial, and governance structures often treat water in separate silos based on end-use and quality, Charlotte Water seeks to unite them — in the name of efficiency, quality, and service.

“The One Water approach integrates customer service. It’s one water, one source, one community,” said Barbara Bleiweis, member of the Charlotte Water Advisory Committee. “Charlotte Water doesn’t hide behind that; they pride themselves in that integration.”

By uniting the city’s stormwater services with its water utility, Charlotte Water aims to enhance customer experience, foster stronger community partnerships, and maximize efficiencies.

It started with internal integration — building buy-in, understanding, and commitment among employees from historically distinct agencies toward a unified, one-water approach.

It grew into operational alignment, in part when the One Water Facility opened in late 2023. Housing more than 200 professionals across water, wastewater and stormwater services, the facility is a hub for the Charlotte region’s water supply.

It also offers educational opportunities for the community through its demonstration sites, including a rain garden, permeable pavers, and a sand filter — all which help protect surface waters, preserve aquatic life and reduce erosion.

“One Water is not an outcome,” said Mike Davis, director of storm water services at Charlotte Water. “It’s really an approach.”

One Water Governance is one of the five strategic priorities under American Water Works Association’s Water 2050 initiative, which envisions a sustainable and resilient water future. To support integrated approaches like that in Charlotte, a strategic implementation team is focused on:

• Pursuing case studies of successful and failed collaborative efforts that capture best practices and lessons that other entities can benefit from.
• Creating an implementation flowchart that guides entities to the possible pathways to successful collaborations and identifies potential roadblocks.
• Outlining the various potential challenges related to regionalization — including governance, staffing, and liability — along with opportunities to overcome those challenges.

Last year, Charlotte Water logged 144 projects that required water, wastewater and stormwater to work together.

“We have to think differently as water professionals,” said Angela Charles, director of Charlotte Water. “We have to knock down those boundaries.”

To learn more about Charlotte Water and Water 2050, visit this webpage.