HENRICO COUNTY, Va. — What does Metro Richmond's water supply look like in two years? 20? 50?
It is a question that has been moved to the forefront this year after multiple issues connected to Richmond's water treatment plant and it is one that Hanover and Henrico County officials will look to answer on Wednesday with a joint meeting at the Henrico Sports & Events Center.
The meeting is scheduled for 2:30 to 4 p.m.
"How do we get reliable, redundant, safe water for the future?" said Brookland District Supervisor and Henrico County Board Chair Dan Schmitt.
"Water resiliency is a shared problem for our region," added John Budesky, County Administrator for Hanover County.
The urgency of the issue became apparent after a series of disruptions at Richmond's water treatment plant, which supplies water to both counties.
First was the power outage at the city's water treatment plant in January that left customers without drinkable water for nearly a week.
Then in April, "increased" and "unknown" levels of fluoride were pumped into the water leaving the plant.
And last month, filters that were clogged at the treatment plant due to delayed maintenance led to a boil water advisory for parts of the city (but neither county). The day after that was fixed, the city suffered a water main break downtown the led to low pressure for some Henrico residents (but no boil water advisory).
Despite these challenges, Budesky acknowledged the city has made improvements.
"I think it's important to recognize that while there have been issues, it's also important to see that the city has made some improvements, and they're putting the right people in place. The mayor has made commitments to assure this long term success," Budesky said.
Schmitt emphasized that while individual localities have had internal discussions about preventing future problems, they need to begin talking as a region. He noted they have already engaged in similar conversations with Richmond officials and pointed to successful regional collaborations on other projects.
"GRTC is an example, Richmond Region Tourism is a great example where our jurisdictions have come together. We know we can do it, but what we know we'll fail with is if our messaging isn't the same," Schmitt said. "I think part of the discussion tomorrow is we understand what Hanover's needs and wants and desires are. They understand what Henrico's needs and wants and desires are. So that we as Henrico aren't talking to Richmond or talking to Chesterfield and Hanover is having a conversation and the needs and the wants become a little more blurry."
Budesky said the region has significant water resources to work with.
"Even in Hanover County, we have a Doswell treatment plant that also provides water...Henrico has water treatment resources," he said. "And so, what can we do to make sure that we have Doswell to our north, but where else can we bring in water so when we have issues, we can isolate problems, reduce the impacts to our residents, reduce the potential for boil water advisories for our residents, and this is allowing us to look even more bigger picture."
"We've looked at our own reservoir. We're going to re-evaluate that. We've looked at water treatment plants. And so at this point, we're really looking across all avenues to make sure that our residents and the regional residents have a resource for many decades to come."
Both officials emphasized their continued commitment to ensuring Richmond's water treatment plant succeeds, with the ultimate goal of providing certainty to residents.
"That it's safe, reliable, and that the jurisdictions have a redundant source, so these things don't happen," Schmitt said.
Officials are encouraging members of the public wishing to watch the meeting to do so online. They said this is because they do not anticipate a public comment period and the meeting is being held in a small room at the Sports & Events Center due to a larger event taking up most of the facility's space.
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