5 takeaways from the Richmond-Henrico water summit

The joint meeting between the city of Richmond and Henrico County on Monday started out with routine presentations on how the local water system works.

It took a turn when Councilor Ellen Robertson (6th District) assured her Henrico counterparts on the other side of the table that the county has no reason to be worried about the reliability of the city’s water treatment plant.

“I want to relieve any concern that we have an immediate situation that we need to be fearful [of] day by day,” Robertson said. “Those emergency situations that caused the problem that we’ve dealt with have been corrected. And we do not feel that that’s an issue.”

Henrico Supervisor Tyrone Nelson — whose Varina District went without usable water during January’s water crisis, which was caused by a breakdown of the city’s treatment plant — seemed surprised by Robertson’s comments.

Henrico isn’t trying to use the water crisis to impose its will on the city, Nelson said. But as the city’s largest water customer that spends around $14 million a year buying drinking water from the Richmond plant, Nelson added, it’s understandable that the county would have questions.

“Henrico is saying what can we do to be of assistance? Now I’m hearing Councilwoman Robertson saying we really don’t need your assistance,” Nelson said.

Robertson’s comments were at odds with what state health regulators have said about the repeated drinking water violations at Richmond’s plant. 

In a June 16 notice to the city, the Virginia Department of Health said the three problems at the plant in 2025 alone — the Jan. 6 crisis that required a boil water advisory, an excessive fluoride issue in April and a filter clogging episode in May that again required some city neighborhoods to boil water — “represent unprecedented and very concerning situations for a waterworks this size.”

Under a water deal that dates back to 1994, the county agreed to purchase at least 12 million gallons per day from the city. That agreement is set to last until 2040, but the recent water issues have raised questions about the future of the customer-supplier relationship between the two localities.

Mayor Danny Avula called for Monday’s 90-minute joint meeting, saying the intertwined water systems could both benefit from a broader conversation about how Richmond-area localities can work together to strengthen and modernize water infrastructure.

Some officials have floated the idea of creating a regional water authority that would bring shared oversight and operations to a water treatment facility that’s currently run solely by the city.

But it was clear at Monday’s huddle that there’s still a long way to go and some tensions that would need to be smoothed over in order for the idea of a regional authority to work.

Here are five takeaways from the discussion:

Richmond City Council wants more time to talk on its own

At one point, Avula said he was hoping the meeting could produce a consensus that the bodies were at least interested in moving forward on a plan for increased regional cooperation on water, no matter where that plan might lead.

To get the ball rolling, Avula has proposed the creation of a regional advisory group that would involve experts who could help the region better understand the specifics of how much new investment is needed in the local water system and where the money could come from.

Even though water has been identified as a top priority for the city since January, Council leaders indicated Monday that they weren’t sure yet whether they were even interested in the advisory group.

Council President Cynthia Newbille (7th District) said the body needs to take a “deeper dive” on the topic, which could start at an upcoming meeting on July 7.

“Once the body has the meeting, it will come back with next steps and recommendations regarding a water advisory group,” Newbille said.

It wasn’t immediately clear why city officials had asked for a joint meeting with Henrico before the Council had figured out its own position on regional collaboration.

“Council, ultimately has to decide what they want our relationship with our region to look like as it relates to water,” Avula said after the meeting. “They’ve got to work through, do they want to move somewhere more toward a collaborative oversight group? Or are they comfortable with the arrangement that exists now?”

If Richmond is hoping to get more regional investment in costly projects such as raising the water plant’s pumps and electrical equipment out of the basement that flooded in January, Avula said, it makes sense for that to come in exchange for more regional oversight of and authority over the facility getting that investment.

“We’ll wait until July 7 to see what direction Council wants to go,” Avula said.

Data centers could be a sticking point

Councilor Kenya Gibson (3rd District) raised the contentious topic of data centers during the meeting, questioning whether facilities being planned in Henrico would strain the local water supply.

Because data centers use a substantial amount of water to cool the servers they contain and prevent them from overheating, Gibson said, officials should make sure residents aren’t suffering the financial and environmental costs.

“The reality is that right now there are headlines in Texas about a looming water shortage in just five years,” Gibson said. 

The surge in data centers straining water capacity elsewhere is “happening in Virginia too.”

“Given the reality of this, I personally think we’d be sitting here together talking about this regardless of the water shortage that we had this year,” Gibson said.

Public utilities directors for both localities explained at the meeting that Henrico has to periodically give Richmond a forecast of its water usage needs so that the city isn’t caught off guard by increased demand. Henrico officials also said that the White Oak Technology Park, the underused area in eastern Henrico officials have designated as the main site for future data center expansion, is not creating a major water capacity issue for the county.

Some Henrico representatives took exception to Gibson’s focus on data centers.

Echoing Gibson’s earlier statement about her willingness to address an “elephant in the room,” Henrico Supervisor Misty Roundtree (Three Chopt District) said, “I don’t dodge elephants in the room either.”

“Even in our discussion about infrastructure improvements with water, we get accused of, ‘Well, this is only for data centers. Y'all aren't trying to build water infrastructure because you care about people, it's all for the data centers,’” Roundtree said. “And nothing could be further from the truth.”

There’s unresolved tension over recent water troubles

Gibson also questioned Henrico officials on why a state document said the county increased its usage of city water during the May water incident after the city had asked for help conserving water to avoid the second boil advisory.

County officials had previously said they would look into flow data showing an increase in their water intake as the county was issuing press releases saying it had done the opposite. City officials have argued the second boil water advisory could have been avoided if Henrico had decreased its water intake as requested.

At Monday’s meeting, county representatives confirmed the flow to Henrico had increased but didn’t elaborate on why.

“Yes, there was an increase of water pulled into Henrico,” said Henrico Department of Public Utilities Director Bentley Chan. “As best as we can tell, it looks to be a miscommunication between our respective staffs on what exactly needed to be done in both systems.”

Roundtree leveled an allegation of her own against the city, saying county employees who had been at the city’s water plant to help keep an eye on its operations had at some point been asked to leave the facility.

“That was one thing I kept coming back to with my constituents. We have eyes on it. We have boots on the ground. Nothing's going to happen in that plant that should be concerning to you without us knowing about it contemporaneously,” Roundtree said. “And my understanding is that that is no longer the case.”

Several county officials said the city should welcome the presence of Henrico staff at the facility as an initial step toward regional collaboration.

Speaking to reporters afterward, Avula confirmed the basic details of Roundtree’s claim but said he couldn’t elaborate on exactly what happened.

“I don’t know the details around why,” Avula said. “But they were asked to leave.”

Avula declines comment on water angle in election results

During the post-meeting news conference, Avula was asked for his thoughts on the political ramifications of the Richmond area largely voting against former Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney in the recent Democratic primary for lieutenant governor. Stoney left office just before the January water crisis, but some voters still faulted him for the water plant breakdown.

In his response, Avula wouldn’t say if he’s feeling any new pressure to ensure the water system is fixed on his watch to avoid a similar political fate.

“I know I'm a politician, but that's not why I got into this job,” Avula said. “The job I signed up for is to make sure that the basic functions of government are working for everybody. And so that's what I'm really focused on.”

Officials are still hopeful for something positive

Even though the two sides weren’t exactly on the same page, both Richmond and Henrico officials expressed optimism that the rare joint meeting would eventually lead to progress.

Newbille assured the Henrico contingent that — whatever happens next — the city is committed to being a reliable water supplier to the county.

“Extraordinary. Strong. Sustainable service. Period. End of paragraph. Without a doubt,” Newbille said. “And we are committed to making sure that that happens for Richmonders as well as our partners.”

Avula said he’s confident some form of regional conversation will continue.

“Our utility directors meet on a regular basis. The executives are meeting on a regular basis,” the mayor said. “I'm not sure what the future is in terms of the larger elected bodies all getting together. I'll leave that to City Council. But rest assured, I and our administrative leadership continue to be at the table with our regional partners.”

Henrico officials have signaled they could reach a point where the county could break off from Richmond’s water plant or attempt to purchase it to ensure reliable water service for their residents. After the meeting, Henrico Supervisor Roscoe Cooper (Fairfield District) said he doesn’t foresee a situation where the county would “just pull away” from the city on regional water discussions.

“It kind of got a little tense, if you will,” Cooper said. “Because this is a very tense situation. These are people’s lives.”

Contact Reporter Graham Moomaw at gmoomaw@richmonder.org