One year after Richmond water crisis, Henrico DPU director says things are ‘180 degrees better’

HENRICO COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) -- It's been one year since a power outage at Richmond’s water treatment plant left thousands without safe water for nearly a week. Henrico's director of the Department of Public Utilities (DPU) Bentley Chan told 8News things are "180 degrees better," but there’s still more to do. 

Surrounding areas, including Hanover, parts of Goochland and Henrico County were also impacted. Over the past year, the city and those surrounding areas have spent millions of dollars to prevent something similar happening again. 

“We are proactively building the infrastructure that we need to make sure that, hey, it never goes off again," Chan said.

Henrico residents will see one project come to life over the next few years. It's a 13 mile, 42 inch pipeline from the west to the east end of the county. Water will come from the James River where it'll be made safe for use at the plant.

Chan said it'll enhance the county's water reliability. The goal of the pipeline is not complete independence from Richmond's water treatment plant, but to make Henrico's water stronger.

“If at any point there’s a situation, we can open that tap, feed our residents in the eastern part of the county, possibly push some water to Hanover and the city of Richmond can kind of save the water that they have to serve their residents," he said.  

To pay for projects like the pipeline, residents can expect a 5% increase in water and sewer costs. Chan said that's several dollars more for the average Henrico resident. 

“The only money that we get is from our- from our customers, from our users," he said. "And we don’t necessarily get money from any taxes or from the general government unless there’s a specific reason.”   

Previously, because Chan said there’s more water usage in the summer than in the winter, tanks would run at a minimum to conserve water, but because of what could happen, those tanks are kept full without losing the quality of the water. 

“The good that came out of it was for us to- like, a better understanding of what we could do with our system," he said. "And so, we do have enhanced operations now where we are running all of our tanks kind of filled or overfilled throughout the year just to make sure that water is available should anything happen.” 

After communication shortfalls last January, Chan said he and other utilities directors, like Richmond’s Scott Morris, meet more, even as recently as this week, and have better plans in place in case of an emergency. 

“There’s not only a phone call to me from [Richmond's] director, Director Morris, but there’s also phone calls kind of all along the spectrum of stakeholders," Chan said.

Chan said any resident with questions or concerns can reach out to his office and either he or someone from the department will schedule a time to come to your neighborhood to talk about the improvements they’re working on. 

“If we don’t know it, we can’t investigate it, we can’t help address it," he said.   

You can contact the department by calling (804) 501-4275, (804) 727-8700 (operations), (804) 501-5025 (after hours) or emailing utilities@henrico.gov.