Boil water advisory issued for all of Henrico County

Henrico County officials have issued a boil water advisory for the entire county, Henrico County Manager John Vithoulkas announced during a Wednesday afternoon press conference at the Tuckahoe Area Library.

The advisory is expected to be brief in nature, Vithoulkas said, and is designed as a precautionary measure. It advises residents and businesses to boil water for at least one minute before cooling it for drinking or cooking purposes.

The advisory comes after the Virginia Department of Health issued a boil water advisory for a portion of Eastern Henrico that was just being reconnected to water.

“They issued that boil water advisory because water in that portion of the county. . . was not moving through the utility system,” Vithoulkas said.

But there is no way to guarantee that potentially contaminated water remains isolated in a specific area within the county’s water system, Vithoulkas said, so officials decided to expand the advisory to the entire county.

“The boil water notice is a precaution for anything that may come through this first push of water,” Henrico Public Utilities Director Bentley Chan said.

The city of Richmond – which typically supplies Eastern Henrico and a portion of Northern Henrico with water – must conduct two clean bacteriological tests on its water supply 24 hours apart in order for the boil water advisory to be lifted, Chan said. One of those tests already has been completed within the city’s drinking water facility and came back clean, he said, but in addition to a second test, an additional set of tests also must be conducted within the city’s distribution system.

Henrico is not required to conduct the same tests within its system, Chan said, but may do so anyway.

About 23,000 Henrico customers remain without water

About 6,000 water customers in Henrico have seen their water service at least partially restored since Tuesday, according to Chan, but another 23,000 or so remain without service. He estimated that those customers would have some level of water within 24 to 48 hours.

“We’re starting to see some light,” said Varina District Supervisor Tyrone Nelson, whose home also lost water Tuesday morning. “By this time tomorrow, many of you will be in a much better place than you are today, so hang in there.”

The next area likely to see water service return is the Elko region in the county’s far eastern portion. That’s because city officials Wednesday afternoon were able to energize their Church Hill water tank, which serves the Elko area.

“Between the efforts that we have made getting deeper into Varina overnight and through today, and now the Elko area starting to receive water, we are going to see water come into Varina as we speak and overnight,” Vithoulkas said.

County opening schools, Sports and Events Center to residents

In the interim, Henrico officials are opening the Henrico Sports and Events Center at Virginia Center to the public at 6 p.m. Wednesday to allow for residents to shower, find warmth and recharge devices. Bottled water also will be available at the facility, which will be open 24 hours a day.

With the opening of that site, the county will stop distributing bottled water at the Sandston and Varina libraries after 9 p.m. tonight, according to Henrico Emergency Management and Workplace Safety Director Rob Rowley.

Because public schools in the county will be closed tomorrow, the county also will open three schools (to be announced later today) to allow residents to take showers, Vithoulkas said.

Potable water remains available for residents 24 hours a day at the Eastern Henrico Government Center and the Eastern Henrico Recreation Center, Rowley said; residents must bring their own containers to store the water.

As water service returns, customers should be prepared to hear gurgling or see discoloration or mineralization, Chan said.

“Don’t be alarmed by that,” he said. “It is normal. You may get some kinda of frothy or extremely aerated water; that is fine as well.”

Chan suggested if this occurs, customers should flush their faucets by running them for a few minutes.

The county’s water hotline remains active at (804) 501-4275, Option 2.

Could Henrico's water treatment facility eventually serve the entire county?

The county’s water treatment facility, which opened in 2004 at the intersection of Three Chopt and Gaskins roads and serves western and a northern portions of the county, was not designed to provide water to the entire county, Vithoulkas told the Citizen.

But it is equipped to produce 80 million gallons of water per day and in 2023 was producing only about 23 million gallons, according to a county report. Henrico purchased about 11 million gallons per day on average that year from the city, the same report showed, as part of a contract that runs through the middle part of next decade.

Could Henrico officials weigh the possibility of updating their treatment facility to serve the entire county?

“We haven’t even looked at [that possibility],” Vithoulkas said, "but it probably is something that we’ll be looking at as we go forward.”

Despite the challenges experienced by residents and county officials this week, Vithoulkas said he's been proud of the way county employees have worked nonstop in an effort to fix the issues and the manner in which many residents have come together to support each other.

"I have seen the region come together and say, 'How can we figure this out?'" Vithoulkas said.