Yahoo Finance Did you get an alert about Charlotte’s water main break or boil advisory? Here’s why not.
As many Charlotte residents scrambled to figure out why they had no water Monday night, a tweet from a City Council member explains how some were alerted about the large main break that affected 16 ZIP codes.
Residents who received an alert about the main break had signed up for CharMeck Alerts, a mass notification system used by the city and Mecklenburg County, City Council member Larken Egleston wrote on Twitter. It’s an opt-in service that sends alerts about potential safety hazards and concerns through email, text or a phone call.
Around 4 p.m. Monday, a nearly 70-year-old, 36-inch water transmission line broke in the 1400 block of Remount Road, Charlotte Water Director Angela Charles told reporters Tuesday.
Charlotte Water posted an alert on social media around 6 p.m. CharMeck Alert subscribers received a message around 7:30 p.m. — 90 minutes later.
It was at that point when Charlotte Water crews could get a good handle on what was happening, Charles said during a remote news conference.
“That took some time,” she said.
Around 9:20 p.m., Charlotte Water issued an update to news media about the water main break. The statement said customers “affected by low or no water pressure can boil water for human consumption.”
Egleston tweeted about the boil water advisory at 9:47 p.m.
“Charlotte Water is advising residents who experienced low to no water pressure to adhere to a boil water advisory for the next 48 hours as a precautionary measure,” he said. “@CLTWater will provide updates when the advisory has ended.”
Charlotte Water is advising residents who experienced low to no water pressure to adhere to a boil water advisory for the next 48 hours as a precautionary measure. @CLTWater will provide updates when the advisory has ended. #CLT #cltcc pic.twitter.com/q9FaCpThT7
— Larken Egleston (@Larken) October 19, 2021
An update from Charlotte Water came at 10:12 p.m. when the agency posted its statement about the boil advisory and apologized to customers for any inconvenience.
Some local Twitter users responded to Egleston’s tweet, asking him about the lack of alerts about the boil advisory.
An email alert about the water main break did go out Monday, Egleston explained in a tweet at 10:20 p.m. He also included a link to the CharMeck Alerts website and said people had to have been signed up to receive a notification.
At 10:29 p.m., Egleston tweeted that the city needs “to be more proactive in getting folks registered for these type of alerts.”
“Sorry for the breakdown in communications around this today ... we must do better,” he said.
I think tonight demonstrates we need to be more proactive in getting folks registered for these type of alerts. Sorry for the breakdown in communications around this today...we must do better.
— Larken Egleston (@Larken) October 19, 2021
At 1:31 a.m., Charlotte Water tweeted that customers who experienced a loss of water should boil water.
CharMeck Alerts
Charlotte and Mecklenburg County residents can create an account to receive emergency alerts from CharMeckAlerts.org. Subscribers can edit how they receive notifications. To stop receiving alerts, subscribers can call 311 and request an opt-out, or unsubscribe by emailing charmeckalerts@charlottenc.gov.
Charlotte Water has a presence on Nextdoor and other social networks like Twitter and Facebook.
