Henrico, Hanover boards press regional solutions after repeated water system failures

Henrico County and Hanover County leaders met in Henrico on June 11 to review repeated water-system failures affecting the region and to map next steps for short‑ and long‑term resiliency. County utility directors and an outside consultant briefed both boards on current contracts, system capacity and planned projects; supervisors from both counties called for a regional oversight mechanism and accelerated construction of transmission capacity to move water from west to east.

The meeting followed a series of service interruptions earlier in 2025, including a January event that prompted a boil‑water advisory, an April incident involving fluoride dosing, and a late‑May treatment interruption that again led to emergency operations. County staff and a consultant from AquaLaw described regulatory actions underway and technical options for increasing storage, treatment and interconnections.

Why it matters: both counties depend in part on treated water produced at the City of Richmond’s regional plant and on interconnections among counties. Several wholesale water contracts that shape who can draw how much water run decades into the future but differ in term and detail; officials warned supply and delivery constraints could become binding within the next two decades unless redundancy and transmission capacity are added.

Henrico and Hanover utility directors outlined current contracts and capacity levels and identified projects designed to reduce vulnerability. Hanover Director of Public Utilities Matt Longshore summarized Hanover’s 1994 wholesale contract with the City of Richmond, which secures up to 20 million gallons per day (MGD) of Richmond capacity for Hanover and…