By Tom Lappas

(HC) – Henrico Public Utilities officials Wednesday morning were continuing to work on the county’s water system to restore water service to Eastern and Northern Henrico, after overnight efforts managed to restore some service in the Mechanicsville Turnpike area.
Shortly before midnight Wednesday, officials believed that they could have service restored to most of the affected customers by early morning. But after Public Utilities crews closed the last remaining large water valves that they believed needed to be adjusted in order to ensure the flow of water in the proper direction, they realized that a number of smaller valves also needed to be closed.

As of 10 a.m. Wednesday, crews were anticipating adjusting 14 smaller valves in order to complete the process. Closing a large valve, Henrico County Manager John Vithoulkas told the Citizen Tuesday night is a time-consuming process that can take as long as half an hour, but closing smaller valves generally takes less time. Failure to close the proper valves would result in water flowing back into the city.

“We’re pushing water from the west to the east, and as we do that, we have to close valves to help with the pressure,” Henrico Public Relations Director Ben Sheppard told the Citizen Wednesday. “We have to fill up tanks to help with the pressure, and it just takes time.”

The 14 smaller valves were located along the Henrico-Richmond line from Mechanicsville Turnpike to Laburnum Avenue, Sheppard said.

In the meantime, Henrico officials continued to distribute bottled and potable water to county residents at several locations.

Both forms are available 24 hours a day at the Eastern Henrico Recreation Center (1440 North Laburnum Avenue), though residents need to bring their own storage containers for potable water.

Bottled water is also available 24 hours a day at the Eastern Henrico Government Center (3820 Nine Mile Road) and Wednesday until 9 p.m. at the Sandston and Varina libraries. Officials Tuesday had indicated that it also would be available at the North Park and Fairfield libraries, but that is no longer the case. The area near North Park Library has water, and officials decided that providing water at Fairfield Library – which is located across the street from the Eastern Henrico Recreation Center – would be duplicative

“We’re doing everything we can,” Sheppard said of the county’s ongoing efforts. “We’re utilizing every resource available, and we want to get water back to people as soon as possible.”