Repairs complete 4 months after water main break impacted half of Charlotte

CHARLOTTE — Four months after Channel 9 first reported a massive water main break that impacted nearly half of Charlotte, crews have finished repairing the pipe.

On Monday, Charlotte Water said crews reactivated the section of 36-inch iron pipe that was newly installed under Irwin Creek near the Remount Road bridge. Crews have been working since Nov. 2021 to repair, remove and replace the previous pipe damaged in the Oct. 2021 break.

In October, Charlotte Water Director Angela Charles said the pipe that burst was installed in 1955. Its role was to transmit water from the plant to the service area and that’s why so many people were impacted. She called the rupture “historical.”

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Charlotte Water said crews replaced more than 250 feet of pipe while protecting the integrity of the bridge, the water quality of the creek, and the safety of the crews who had to work in a complex location.

“With the pipe repair completed, Charlotte Water crews will continue site clean-up and restoration for the next few weeks,” the utility said in a news release. “Charlotte Water will continue to evaluate 21,000 feet of the remaining 36-inch pipe for any possible defects.”

“Every day, Charlotte Water routinely repairs and maintains water and sewer pipes across our entire service area,” Angela Charles said in the statement. “It’s important that we are doing all that we can to keep customers’ trust in our ability to provide clean, safe and reliable water service to the Charlotte region.”

Charlotte Water installed or rehabilitated more than 66,000 feet of pipe across the water system in 2021 and invested almost $400 million into capital project improvements that year, it said.

(WATCH BELOW: Repairs start on football field-sized site of Concord water main break)