Charlotte Water, Stormwater highlight projects, financial outlook and PFAS monitoring plans

Charlotte Water and Stormwater Services presented a joint budget and capital-outlook briefing to the Budget, Governance and Intergovernmental Relations Committee on March 3, reviewing major capital projects, asset-management planning, ongoing costs and the city—s approach to PFAS monitoring.

Charlotte Water Director Angela Charles and Stormwater Deputy Mike Davis outlined recent accomplishments and the utility—s performance targets. Stormwater highlighted progress on backlog reduction and an asset-management approach to shift from reactive repairs toward preventative maintenance on roughly 1,400 miles of drainage infrastructure. Davis said the city—s Community Rating System score will improve to a higher class, which could reduce federally backed flood insurance premiums for affected properties. Staff noted heavy development and increased plan-review workload associated with infill and UDO changes.

For water and wastewater, staff described large projects including the Stowe Regional Water Resource Recovery Facility (the largest project in Charlotte Water history), major sewer and pump-station projects and distribution system investments (elevated storage tanks, system rehabilitation). The utility reported triple-A credit status for enterprise funds and said planned FY26 fee adjustments were designed to support roughly two-thirds capital / one-third operating spending in the proposed budget. Staff said typical monthly bill impacts for most customers in illustrative scenarios would be modest (staff illustrated sample monthly increases for usage tiers; for many lower-usage customers the increase was small and staff stressed affordability comparisons with peer cities).

On contaminants of emerging concern, staff said Charlotte Water has monitored a wide suite of PFAS compounds since before 2020 and that its source waters do not currently show PFAS at levels that require installation of costly treatment. Staff said the city has in-house PFAS monitoring capability and will continue testing; they said treatment technologies could cost tens to hundreds of millions of dollars if future regulations or detections require them. Staff emphasized the city—s source-water quality advantages and said monitoring, pilot testing and regional coordination are the current strategy.

Stormwater staff discussed funding strategy: a steady, moderate fee schedule (staff cited a target of roughly 4% per year increases) and attention to maintaining pay-go levels and debt capacity to preserve credit ratings. Committee members pressed for data showing how rates compare to peers, asked for details about relocation of flood insurance designations and outreach for affected homeowners, and requested more plain-language materials to explain what rate adjustments will mean for typical households.

Ending: Staff said they would return with more detailed budget recommendations and supporting materials, continue PFAS monitoring and report on capital project schedules and affordability metrics during the manager—s budget cycle.