Henrico declares state of emergency and parts of Hanover under boil water advisory amid water issues stemming from Richmond

The big picture: Portions of central and eastern Henrico, which usually use Richmond's city water, started seeing low or no water pressure around Monday afternoon as it switched off the city's water supply and onto its own, county manager John Vithoulkas said at a press conference Tuesday afternoon.

• He said Henrico hopes to have all service restored the same day, but as of 6:30am Wednesday, full service still wasn't back.
• In a Wednesday morning update, Henrico said it restored "some service" west of Mechanicsville Turnpike and work was ongoing for the rest of the county.

Meanwhile, Hanover County residents east of I-95 are under a boil water advisory through Thursday afternoon and may see "low water pressure or a complete loss of water within a few hours," the county wrote in a Facebook post.

• Some Hanover residents started losing water Tuesday afternoon.
• Hanover is asking all residents to conserve water whenever possible. Households with no or low water can pick up one case of water on Tuesday at Atlee High School and Cold Harbor Elementary School from 3–7pm.

In Henrico, a water main break in Highland Springs late Monday evening exacerbated the issue and caused the eastern part of the county, including the airport, to lose all water access. For some, low pressure extended into Tuesday.

• Water stations are now set up in Henrico for residents' use.
• Residents do not need to boil water and it is fully safe to drink, Vithoulkas said.

Yes, but: The city's delay in notifying its county partners about issues at its own water reservoir drove Henrico's initial low-pressure issue around Willow Lawn and Libbie Mill, he said.

• "There could've been better communication with the notification that we received from the city of Richmond," Vithoulkas said. "It took a number of hours to get that information and we were not able to fill our system as much as we would've liked to."

What's next: Henrico's water stations are open around the clock with tanker trucks at the Henrico Government Center (3820 Nine Mile Road) and bottled water available at the Mental Health East facility (3908 Nine Mile Road).

• The county has dedicated line for residents' water-related questions or issues: (804) 501-4275, Option 2.

Worth noting: Chesterfield, other than 27 residences that are on city water, hasn't been affected by Richmond's water issues, county spokesperson J. Elias O'Neal tells Axios.

• The county utilities department "hand-delivered bottled water" to those homes, he said.

Go deeper:

• Delays push Richmond water restoration to Tuesday afternoon
• Richmond's under a boil water advisory as many without water
• Richmond's best memes and jokes from the city water crisis