Two Rivers Utilities: Water & Wastewater Treatment

Two Rivers Utilities (TRU) was formed in 2011 when Gastonia and Cramerton consolidated their utilities. TRU operates a membrane-filtration water treatment plant and three wastewater treatment facilities — Long Creek, Crowders Creek, and Eagle Road — along with a biosolids Resource Recovery Farm.

Two Rivers Utilities' water treatment plant uses a high-tech membrane filtration system — the first in North Carolina to use membrane filters as the primary method of turning lake water into drinking water. A five-year, $65 million modernization was completed in 2019; the plant has been at its Gastonia location since 1922. The Water Supply and Treatment Division is committed to providing superior-quality drinking water at a reasonable price while protecting public health.

Water treated annually 5.5 billion gallons Water treated daily 15.5 million-gallon average (27.3 million-gallon capacity) Water source Mountain Island Lake, 13 miles east of Gastonia Customers served 100,000, across 30,000 accounts Communities served Gastonia, Cramerton, Lowell, McAdenville, Ranlo, Clover Emergency service for Belmont, Dallas Safety / quality tests and readings 30 million per year

---

Two Rivers Utilities operates three wastewater treatment plants and a biosolids Resource Recovery Farm.

• Long Creek WWTP — began operation in 1965; expanded in the early 1970s to 8 MGD and again in the mid-1990s to 16 MGD.
• Crowders Creek WWTP — began operation in April 1992 at 6 MGD design capacity; upgraded in summer 2001.
• Eagle WWTP — TRU began operating the Eagle Road facility on June 30, 2011, when Gastonia and Cramerton consolidated utilities to form Two Rivers Utilities. Permitted at 4 MGD, with a current average daily flow of about 0.55 MGD. (Cramerton purchased the facility from Burlington Industries in 2006 and upgraded it in 2007.)

Resource Recovery Farm — established in 1994 on 600+ acres of City-owned land for biosolids storage and land application. It is a public-private partnership between the City (infrastructure and maintenance) and EMA Resources, Inc. (day-to-day operation). Two lined storage basins hold a combined 8 million gallons; biosolids are land-applied on 200 permitted acres on-site and 1,800+ acres across Gaston County. In 1997 the City's biosolids program earned the U.S. EPA Region IV First Place award for Beneficial Use of Biosolids, along with national Honorable Mention.