Chesterfield officials gave a briefing today updating the county on the issues regarding the damage to water treatment plants after historic flooding over the weekend. Residents are facing an emergency water-restriction while officials work to get the plants back online.
In the briefing, Chesterfield Utilities Director George Hayes said that two of the county’s three water treatment facilities are currently offline due to the damage. At the Addison Evans treatment plant on Swift Creek, water reached 11-feet high on the exterior of the building. The treatment pumps are in the basement of the building and the damage will take months to fix said Hayes.
The Addison Evans plant was turned off proactively to the damage that happened.
The Jahnke Road treatment plant that is actually in the City of Richmond was taken offline Sunday night after damage from high water. This is was caused the emergency water-restrictions to be put in place. Hayes said they are expecting this plant to be back online within days – which would then allow them to lift the water restriction on residents.
The Appomattox River Authority plant, which is the county’s largest source of water providing water to 55% of customers remains online and operating.
Hayes adamantly stressed the importance of conserving water these next few days to ensure that customers all have water for essential needs.
One of the biggest ways to conserve during summer months is to turn off irrigation systems. Hayes said that irrigation symptoms account for a large part of their output and that he is comfortable asking customers to do this due to the expected lifting of the restriction happening within days.
Hayes also noted that the water was not compromised at any time during this event.
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