Plumbers in Cleveland, NC

A small town with its own systems

Cleveland is a very small western Rowan County town on US 70 (Statesville Boulevard) between Statesville and Salisbury, about 35 miles southwest of downtown Winston-Salem in a straight line. It was incorporated in 1833 and took the name Cleveland in 1887. The town counted 846 residents in 2020, though ZIP 27013 covers about 75 square miles. The large Daimler Truck (Freightliner) plant is the town's economic anchor.

Well water, not river water

Most of Rowan County's towns buy into Salisbury-Rowan Utilities, but Cleveland runs a self-sufficient system of about 389 connections supplied by three town-owned wells inside town limits, with an SRU interconnection for emergencies. The town disinfects with chlorine and keeps a fairly low residual. Its drinking water lines were replaced between 2008 and 2019, and one water tower dates to 1896.

The 2025 report shows no violations. In 2024 lead sampling, the 90th percentile was 3.8 ppb, below the 15 ppb action level, but one home tested above it. The town has prepared a service line inventory, available through Town Hall. If you're concerned about lead in an older house, a plumber can check what your own supply pipes and fittings are made of.

Sewer and the truck plant

Cleveland also owns its wastewater plant, with about 275,000 gallons a day of capacity as of 2021, roughly half of it used by the Freightliner plant. A 2021 UNC Environmental Finance Center case study noted that the town's sewer lines, around 35 years old at the time, were due for inspection and repair. Outside town in rural 27013, homes may be on private wells and not on municipal sewer; we found no source covering that area.

Homes, gas and permits

The median home in the Cleveland area was built in 1982, with about 47% from before 1980, so a mix of older and newer plumbing turns up. Piedmont Natural Gas serves portions of Rowan County, and availability varies by street. If you smell gas, leave the house and call 911 or Piedmont at 800-752-7504 from outside. Rowan County Building Inspections in Salisbury (704-216-8619) handles permits after town zoning approval; its 2024 schedule lists $75 for a storage water heater permit and $90 for tankless.

How this differs from Winston-Salem

A Winston-Salem home gets treated surface water from a large city-county utility. A Cleveland home gets chlorinated well water from a system with a few hundred connections, and Rowan County inspects the work. We didn't find a published town backflow program, so ask Town Hall if you're adding irrigation.

When you call

Tell us whether you're inside town limits or out in the county, and what you're seeing. You'll be connected with an independent local plumber who covers Cleveland.