Did you know: In the course of a year, the average residence in America uses 107,000 gallons of water; that it takes 1,500 gallons to process one barrel of beer; that 24 gallons are needed to make one pound of plastic; or that Henrico County’s water tower on Cox Road holds two million gallons of water?

In Henrico County, the range for water tower size is between one million and three million gallons per tank. The sizing is ultimately decided based on two factors: customer demand and fire-flow demand. Fire flow is defined as the amount of water that should be available for providing fire protection throughout a community.

The gargantuan tower on Cox Road was constructed in 1988 and is utilized every day as a crucial part of Henrico’s water system. The area of the county that receives water from this tower is known as the “Three Chopt Central Zone,” which encompasses almost the entire area extending between the Goochland and Hanover county line and Route 33 and Staples Mill Road.

This jurisdiction and two million gallon capacity serve as very telling indicators: we’re talking about a lot of water. But to comprehend just how much water we’re talking about, Henrico’s Director of Public Utilities Art Petrini provided this fun fact: the volume of water within the tower is enough to allow for roughly 175,000 showers!

– Katie Conklin

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