Henrico issues boil water advisory for all residents

Henrico County Manager John Vithoulkas announced Wednesday afternoon that all of Henrico County will go under a boil water advisory, effective immediately.

Boil water advisories are required when water pressure drops in an area. One was previously issued for Eastern Henrico, where there have been water issues over the last two days.

However, Vithoulkas said further evaluation found that there was no way to show potentially contaminated water stayed contained to that region of the county.

"Once water is in our system, there is no way to say water that is in Eastern Henrico can't end up in Western Henrico," he said. "So ultimately what that results in is that the county will issue a boil water advisory, effective immediately, to all our residents.

"That boil water advisory is intended to be temporary."

As a result, Henrico schools will be closed on Thursday. The county plans to open school facilities for water distribution and shower use, with further details coming later this evening.

Henrico has also opened its Sports and Events Center, at the site of the former Virginia Commons Mall, for people who need to use a shower.

Henrico will keep water sites open until 9 p.m. tonight. A list of locations is available here.

Vithoulkas also made a point to compliment Richmond Mayor Danny Avula's handling of the water crisis, a day after expressing what was perceived as displeasure at communications from the city on Monday.

Portions of Eastern Henrico use water provided by the city. They were disconnected from the city supply on Monday, but in the process of getting water from Western Henrico to those sites, water pressure was lost in portions of Eastern Henrico.

Henrico is working on a reservoir project that will handle the county's current and future needs, but it is not yet online.

This has been a breaking news update.