Charlotte Water needed to build a new clean-water plant to serve one of the fastest-growing cities in the United States.

Two older plants will be decommissioned to make room for a state-of-the-art facility that will treat water from Charlotte and two neighboring North Carolina communities. The utility purchased 90 acres of land on the Catawba River for the Stowe Regional Water Resource Recovery Facility.

Ground has been broken for the Stowe facility, which when completed in mid-2026 will treat up to 25 mgd. To introduce this project to the community and keep residents up to date, the utility created a website that was extremely useful during the COVID pandemic when face-to-face communication was paused.

Stowe and STEM

The utility sent more than 30,000 mailers to area residents asking what they liked about their community. Among other things, respondents said they liked the trees, the natural area and raising their families there.

The Stowe plant project team began engaging with schools in the project design phase. Team members learned that several schools were interested in the project, among them Whitewater Middle School, a STEM school with an environmentally focused program. 

Some schools wanted to partner with Charlotte Water to incorporate news about progress on the new facility, along with water information, into the curriculum. To that end, the utility incorporated the suggestions into its Community Benefit Project, providing field trips, in-class instruction and age-appropriate literature on water treatment processes.

“We sat down with science teachers from the middle schools to brainstorm how we could teach the children about water and wastewater treatment in fun and engaging ways,” says Nicole Bartlett, engineering division manager for Charlotte Water and project manager for the Stowe facility.

One idea was to create a puzzle by dividing the children into groups. Members of each group had to explain their portion of the water resource recovery process. Then the members came together to understand how all the processes worked together.

Community benefits

To foster community involvement and cooperation with the construction project, Charlotte Water sent flyers to residents and reported on progress through social media. Staff members also attended events at the schools.

“We attended an open house at Whitewater Middle School where parents and students met teachers and learned their way around the school,” says Bartlett, “We provided informational brochures on the project, backpacks, reusable water bottles and activity books for the students.”

After speaking to more than 200 parents, students and faculty members, utility team members outlined the benefits the project would bring to the area, including:

• Improved water quality in the Catawba River
• Horizontal directional drilling under the River
• A 90-acre community benefit project
• Educational walking trails connected to the STEM middle school
• Field trips and help with STEM curriculum
• Opportunities for STEM careers
• Promotion of environmental sustainability
• Conservation of natural land

Forging connections

Students and educators from Whitewater Middle School were invited to the new plant site to observe progress throughout construction. The utility ultimately plans to expand outreach to area elementary schools, high schools and the community college.

The utility is taking numerous steps to foster connections with the community. The middle school football team won its homecoming game, and Charlotte Water staff members were there. They handed out project-branded Gator green reusable water bottles to congratulate the team.

During that event and others, the utility provides a popular Toilet Bowl Cornhole game for younger children. Kids take turns tossing plastic water droplets into a toddler training toilet.