Henrico crews complete water valve closures, begin filling Eastern, Northern Henrico water zones

Water service restoration is closer for residents of Eastern and Northern Henrico who have been without water for more than 36 hours.

Shortly after noon on Wednesday, Henrico County Public Utilities crews completed a series of water valve closures that will prevent any water from flowing backwards to the city of Richmond and now are beginning the process of filling water zones in Eastern and Northern Henrico.

The first zone to be filled is the Laburnum/Azalea pressure zone, which was the one most severely impacted by the failure of the city's water treatment plant on Monday as well as the Sandston water main break Monday night, Henrico Public Utility officials wrote in a social media post.

Water from the Greater Hermitage zone in Western Henrico is being routed to the Laburnum/Azalea zone, according to officials.

"Crews will be monitoring the pressure from different points as this process gets started to ensure things are operating as expected," they wrote. "Once the Laburnum/Azalea zone has sufficient water pressure, we will then be feeding from that zone into the Greater Eubank zone, which encompasses most of the Varina District.

"To be clear, this part of the process may be lengthy. There is one 16-inch pipe that feeds between these two zones in the Henrico water system, and it will take time for all of the water to make its way through into the zone to come up to pressure."

Typically, the Laburnum/Azalea and Greater Eubank zones are served by city water, which supplies them through large pipes, with supplemental water provided from Henrico every few days, according to officials. But now, the county is pumping water from its Three Chopt Road water treatment facility in the West End across the county.

"However, there has never been a need to send this level of water from western Henrico to eastern Henrico," they wrote. "It will take time to make it all the way through our water system into the affected zones. Crews are continuing to work around the clock to fully restore water service as quickly as possible."

County officials Wednesday established a webpage to house all water-related information and updates, and the county continues to operate its water hotline at (804) 501-4275, Option 2.