Mecklenburg County, North Carolina: drinking water report. Mecklenburg County – Charlotte and its suburbs – serves about 1.1 million residents.
Mecklenburg County – Charlotte and its suburbs – serves about 1.1 million residents. Charlotte Water draws from Mountain Island Lake and Lake Norman, both reservoirs on the Catawba River managed by Duke Energy. The Catawba River system supplies water to multiple counties in both North and South Carolina, making it one of the most heavily utilized river systems in the southeastern United States.
Charlotte Water has maintained consistently good compliance records, and the Catawba River reservoirs provide cleaner source water than many river-intake systems. UCMR5 data shows low-level PFAS detections in the Charlotte Water system. There are no major military installations in Mecklenburg County, so PFAS sources are primarily diffuse – consumer products, wastewater effluent, and stormwater.
The bigger environmental water quality story in the Charlotte area involves coal ash. Duke Energy's retired coal plants left massive ash ponds along the Catawba River, including the former Riverbend Steam Station on Mountain Island Lake. According to the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, coal ash contains heavy metals including arsenic, selenium, and hexavalent chromium. While Duke Energy has been ordered to excavate ash from several sites, the cleanup timeline extends years into the future.
Charlotte Water meets federal standards, but the proximity of coal ash sites to drinking water reservoirs is a long-term concern worth tracking.
Check your water for current monitoring data in your area. An activated carbon filter handles taste and disinfection byproducts, while reverse osmosis addresses a broader range including PFAS and heavy metals. Our water filter guide helps you choose. Pull your detailed report for trends, and visit our North Carolina page for statewide data.