Inside Henrico’s $100-million wastewater overhaul

More than three years after Henrico County settled a lawsuit over sewage overflows into the James River, the county’s water reclamation facility is in the middle of its biggest overhaul in decades.

In December 2021, two environmental groups sued the county, accusing its wastewater treatment plant of dumping more than 66 million gallons of raw sewage into the James River and its tributaries since 2016.

The resulting 2023 settlement required the county to invest $1 million in an environmental project to be completed by 2029 and imposed a series of other corrective measures, including a public-facing overflow map, accelerated construction of new filters, increased sewer inspections and a sewer-cleaning program.

More than three years later, a tour of the Henrico County Water Reclamation Facility shows the county undertaking roughly $100 million in projects associated with the consent order — some planned before the litigation and others accelerated or modified as a result of the settlement.

“Of the projects that were on the consent order, this one’s the largest,” Henrico Director of Public Utilities Bentley Chan said, pointing to a new $74 million filtration building going up beside the plant’s aging filters.

Is this the county finally reckoning with years of violations, or work that was already underway before the lawsuit forced its hand?

The answer – based upon the tour and on the plaintiffs’ own assessment – looks like both a modernization effort already in motion that the settlement accelerated and one the groups that sued the county say is producing progress.

The plant’s existing sand filters, installed in the 1990s, are past their designed service life.

Josh Milligan, assistant division director of the Henrico Water Reclamation Facility, said the new filter building, expected online within about 30 days, pending some remaining electrical work, will house 15 tanks, each rated to treat 10 million gallons a day, for a combined capacity of up to 150 million gallons daily.

Under normal conditions, only about 10 tanks will run at once; the rest are reserve capacity for storms or unexpected surges.

“These are a lot more efficient and a lot more maintenance-friendly than our existing filters,” Milligan said.

The new filters are the largest single project, but they’re one of roughly ten underway. In the past few years, the county has:

• replaced all six primary clarifiers with new stainless-steel units, reusing the original concrete structures;

• installed six new grit separators, completed last year;

• completed phase three of a secondary-clarifier rehabilitation, with phase four starting soon.

The approach has been to renovate rather than replace wherever possible – and to be efficient with the budget, according to Henrico DPU Construction Assistant Division Director Jason Garofalo.

“We’ve done SCADA upgrades, we’re modernizing the technology — but not just ripping everything out to put in new,” Garofalo said. “If there’s a tank that can be reused, if the facade still works and it just needs new guts, they’re not tearing it down just because. Yes, let's have the best possible system, but we’re public. We have to keep it cost-efficient.”

Built for bigger storms

Chan pointed to climate change as a driving factor behind both the pace and design of the work. The county is exploring a holding facility near the plant’s headworks, the point where wastewater first enters the system, that would let operators store and pace out flow during storms or planned shutdowns rather than risk overwhelming the plant.

“Storms are getting more frequent, more intense,” Chan said. “We can hold back that flow and pace it out, so that we don't overwhelm any of the systems here.”

Who’s paying for it

Chan said residents won’t see a significant bill increase tied to this work specifically. The county has a standing 5 percent annual rate increase, which he estimated amounts to a few dollars every other month for an average customer, that funds ongoing capital work.

Henrico’s utility recently became the first water and sewer system in the country to hold “quadruple AAA” bond ratings, the top rating from all four major agencies (S&P Global, Moody’s, Fitch, and Kroll), which Chan said helps the county borrow at low interest rates to fund projects like this one.

The county is separately planning to issue $125 million in new water and sewer bonds, including initial funding for a $300 million cross-county distribution line to expand water service to parts of Northern and Eastern Henrico currently served only by the city of Richmond’s treatment plant, areas that lost water service for days during the January 2025 failure at Richmond’s water treatment plant.

A separate pot of money, $64 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds redirected to public utilities during the pandemic, has helped nearly 400 property owners move off wells and septic systems and onto public water and sewer, part of roughly 30 projects Chan said the county has completed with that funding.

The work is part of DPU's broader 10-year capital improvement program, which currently includes more than $1.16 billion in planned water and sewer projects through fiscal 2036.

A new relationship with the groups that sued

Chan said the litigation reshaped the county’s relationship with the environmental groups that brought it.

“One of the interesting things that has come out of our discussions is a kind of new partnership,” he said. The county and the James River Association explored applying for grant funding together, he said, an effort that ultimately didn’t pan out, but marked a shift.

“The projects didn't align, [but] it was the start of a new chapter of us working more closely with environmental groups.”

That shift is reflected on the plaintiffs’ side, too. James River Association President and CEO Bill Street said the settlement’s requirements are still being carried out, but progress is visible.

“The projects outlined in the settlement agreement are still underway, but we've seen progress,” Street said. “We're thankful for the county’s efforts to address their sewage pollution, improve public information through the Sanitary Sewer Event Overflow Map, and make needed infrastructure repairs. While this work will continue for years to come, these investments will help reduce pollution to the James River and protect public health.”

(Use the map here.)

Chan attributed some of the system’s problems to exceptionally wet years that exposed its vulnerability, and credited the working relationship with the groups that sued the county with helping shape the response.

“A lot of the challenges were [experiencing] the two wettest years on record, and not being fully prepared for it,” Chan said. “The environmental groups are great partners to understand what we don’t see on a daily basis, and it’s having that conversation and building that relationship that helps us all to be better.”