HANOVER COUNTY, Va. — Hanover County leaders recently received new insights into the county's handling of last month’s water crisis, which stemmed from failures at Richmond's water facility. As a result, parts of Hanover experienced water loss and a lengthy boil water advisory.
According to a report released Wednesday, Hanover County was left uninformed for more than seven hours about the issues at Richmond's water plant. Consultants concluded that these communication failures by Richmond significantly hindered Hanover's response to the crisis.
“The communications from the city of Richmond hampered the response, especially on the communication side,” the report stated.
The third-party assessment revealed that Hanover was not notified of the problems at Richmond’s water facility until nearly seven and half hours after they began. This delay resulted in residents of the Mechanicsville district experiencing a full day without water, followed by several days on a boil water advisory.
The report emphasized that notification should have been immediate, as Hanover relies heavily on Richmond for its water supply. The failure to communicate the severity of the situation impacted the county’s ability to act swiftly.
Hanover County Administrator John A. Budesky said, “This hadn't happened since we began this relationship in 1994, but one time was one time too many for our residents.”
The report criticized the city’s inadequate communication regarding the outage’s severity and response timeline, which weakened residents' trust in the county's initial response efforts. However, the county's response reportedly improved once officials were able to gain firsthand information on-site by assisting Richmond.
A consultant noted, “In occasions the county maybe would have not put out communications had they known the full story of what was going on, you know, the event was downplayed.”
The report acknowledged that Hanover's Department of Public Utilities (DPU) took prompt action despite the lack of notice and implemented measures to prevent further disruption in water service across the county.
“It could have been a lot worse, and it could have been a lot longer,” said Michal Herzberg, Chair of the Board of Supervisors.
They report recommended a study to evaluate existing water infrastructure to maximize Henrico county water supply to Hanover and a study to evaluate additional long term water supply options.
They also recommended the county forming a specific crisis communication plan for water crisis and encouraged the county to consider utilizing the media partners, and community organizations directly to help push out messages during crisis.
Board members expressed support for these recommendations and suggested further collaboration with regional partners.
“We are a recipient, but we pay for these resources, and I think we need to work with our colleagues in the region to establish some protocols,” said Supervisor Sean Davis.
Supervisor Faye Prichard added, “We need regional oversight, and I think it's a shame this is how we had to find it out. But having never dealt with it before, we know now.”
Budesky stated that discussions regarding long-term water supply planning were already underway.
“Long-term water supply planning is ongoing as we speak. This will continue to be a priority for us as we move forward. This cannot be solved alone by Hanover,” he said.
The Board of Supervisors said they plan to engage with localities to establish a regional water authority board to enhance communication and explore further collaboration with Henrico on future water expansion initiatives.
According to the report, Hanover's current water systems can only sustain supply for approximately 24 to 36 hours without Richmond's water, with the Mechanicsville area being the most affected due to its dependency on Richmond's supply.
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