County’s water remains safe for consumption and use
Henrico County has opened its emergency operations center as a precaution as the city of Richmond continues working to restore its water treatment plant to full capacity. Henrico’s water continues to be safe for consumption and use, and water pressure throughout the county system remains within normal ranges.
Unlike areas of Richmond, Henrico is not under a boil water advisory. Officials remain hopeful that an advisory will not be needed in the county.
“We recognize that this has been a stressful day filled with questions, anxiety and uncertainty for many of our customers,” said Bentley Chan, director of the Henrico Department of Public Utilities. “We appreciate everyone’s patience and understanding as we’ve done all that we can to help the city address the issues that arose overnight at the Richmond Water Treatment Plant. We continue to monitor our water system closely, even as we’ve provided staff onsite at the city’s plant to help Richmond get back on its feet as quickly as possible.”
City officials notified the county just before 12:30 a.m. that a majority of the city’s filters had been clogged by excessive sediment in the James River, prompting the city to temporarily suspend plant operations. At the city’s request, Henrico reduced the amount of water that it was drawing from the city’s system. Henrico later closed valves to temporarily disconnect from the city’s distribution system. Henrico customers who usually receive their water from the city are currently being served with water held in the county’s reserve tanks.