City fixes water main break, restoring full water service; Henrico reconnects

A broken water main in the City of Richmond that caused water service concerns for some Henrico County customers has been repaired, and the city's water system is operating at full strength, city officials announced Tuesday morning.

Several hours later, Henrico officials announced that they had reconnected the county's water system to the city's, to allow Eastern and Northern Henrico to again be served by water from the city's water treatment facility.

The reconnection process, initiated at 11 a.m., typically takes several hours and is designed to ensure a gradual transition to normal operations, county officials said. Water remains safe for consumption and use, and customers should see normal pressure.

“We are thrilled to get our customers back online and are grateful for the city’s continued partnership,” said Henrico Public Utilities Director Bentley Chan. “We appreciate all the crews who’ve worked tirelessly in recent days and throughout the past two nights to address the city’s water main break. We also thank our customers for their patience and cooperation in limiting their use of public water in recent days. Their efforts were instrumental in allowing us to keep our water system pressurized, stable and safe.”

The water main repair, originally targeted for completion by Monday morning, required additional resources and engineering support, city officials said in a statement, because of the "complexity and connectivity of the region’s distribution system."

City officials had delayed the start of the repair work long enough to allow Henrico County to refill its water tanks so that it could then disconnect from the city's water system and use the stored water to serve Eastern and Northern Henrico residents during the repair work.

City officials then sped up the process to minimize the impact for customers in both localities, they said.

“I appreciate the coordination with Henrico County and I’m especially thankful for the hard work and long hours my team has put in to complete this challenging repair while ensuring limited impact to customers,” said Richmond Public Utilities Director Scott Morris.

Henrico has operated drive-through water distribution sites at Best Plaza, 1400 Best Plaza Drive; and Harvie Elementary School, 3401 Harvie Road for several days. Both sites, which offer one case of bottled water per vehicle, are scheduled to cease operations effective 8 p.m. tonight. 

Though Henrico’s water is safe and pressure should be normal, residents are encouraged to call Public Utilities at (804) 501-5025 (weekends/after hours) or (804) 727-8700 (weekdays) if they notice any unusual conditions.