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 remains in effect through June 2035, unless terminated with notice. Longshore said Hanover’s system currently averaged about 8.8 MGD in 2024 and reached a 2024 maximum of 14.4 MGD; the county’s master plan projections (presented at the meeting as through 2048) show average‑day needs growing toward the mid‑teens of MGD and peak needs well above current supplies.

Henrico Director of Public Utilities Bentley Chan said Henrico’s own treatment plant, opened in 2004 and upgraded since, now has an 80 MGD rated capacity with an on‑site configuration that can be expanded to approximately 130 MGD. Chan said Cobbs Creek Reservoir has reached "substantial completion" and is expected to reach final completion in the fall; that reservoir and the associated intake allocation from the James River together provide Henrico additional raw‑water intake allowances of roughly 47 MGD (30 MGD allocated to Henrico plus 17 MGD available for partners, Chan said). He added that Henrico’s contract with Richmond provides a 35 MGD drinking‑water allocation and includes a minimum annual purchase of 12 MGD through the current contract, which continues in force through July 1, 2040 unless terminated with appropriate notice.

Both directors described the limited existing interconnection between Henrico and Hanover (a 1974 agreement, amended over time, that provides Hanover up to 775,000 gallons per day from Henrico) and the need for much greater transmission capacity to move water from Henrico’s western production toward Henrico’s and Hanover’s eastern areas.

Officials discussed a proposed West‑East Water Network: Longshore and Chan described plans for roughly 70,000 linear feet (about 13.2 miles) of transmission main, additional storage and related facilities to move more than 20 MGD from west to east across Henrico County. The presenters and supervisors cited an early cost estimate of about $350 million and an engineering timeline of roughly five to seven years for full delivery, with the intention of bringing segments online sooner.

Outside counsel and consultant Chris Pomeroy outlined legal and institutional options for regional collaboration under Virginia law: mutual‑aid agreements, water sales contracts, joint oversight commissions, wholesale water authorities and fully regional retail authorities. He noted state regulatory oversight from the Virginia Department of Health and the Department of Environmental Quality is already part of the picture: the state health department contracted an engineering review after the January crisis and has issued notices of alleged violation related to recent treatment problems, he said.

Discussion and next steps: Board members from both counties uniformly supported pursuing regional mechanisms to reduce vulnerability. Several Hanover supervisors urged both (1) establishment of a regional oversight commission or similar joint decision body in the near term to provide structured coordination with Richmond and other local partners, and (2) concurrent work to secure reliable supplemental supplies from Henrico via expanded interconnections and the West‑East Network. Henrico board members and staff likewise signaled support for the oversight and for advancing transmission capacity. Staff said they will continue technical work, regulatory coordination and outreach to other regional partners, including Richmond and Chesterfield, and indicated they plan to return with implementation recommendations and budget implications during upcoming budget cycles and by the end of the calendar year.

No formal votes were recorded at the joint session; the meeting produced direction to staff rather than binding board action. County managers framed the meeting as the start of a broader regional conversation that would include Richmond and Chesterfield in future sessions.

What officials emphasized: supervisors repeatedly framed the issue as a public‑safety and reliability priority for residents rather than a municipal contest. Chan repeated a technical point made in the presentation: portions of a distribution system can avoid a boil‑water advisory when pressure never drops below the regulatory threshold (20 psi); he said Henrico and Hanover systems maintained pressure during the recent events while parts of the City of Richmond dropped below the threshold. Pomeroy told the boards, "There is a lot of flexibility. We have a lot of tools and options under Virginia law" to structure regional cooperation.

The boards closed by asking staff to accelerate feasibility work, continue regulatory engagement, and expand conversations to include Richmond and Chesterfield so elected officials can be plugged in as needed. Staff and managers said they would report back with recommendations, timelines and fiscal analysis for the next steps.

Ending: The June 11 joint session ended without formal action but with clear direction: both Henrico and Hanover seek faster delivery of technical fixes and institutional arrangements to make the region’s water system more redundant, resilient and less dependent on a single facility.