NEW KENT — Residents of a Bottoms Bridge subdivision in New Kent were instructed to boil water for 48 hours last week after a water main break.
New Kent County’s Department of Public Utilities issued the advisory for all residents of 15 streets in the Five Lakes subdivision on Nov. 19.
The notice followed a water main break during which some customers lost water service and others had varying degrees of loss in water pressure. Impacted residents were encouraged to boil water before consuming it.
The boil water advisory did not impact Quinton Elementary School, businesses and restaurants on Pocahontas Trail and New Kent Highway/Route 249, or Aqua Virginia water customers.
The boil advisory remained in effect until two consecutive samples confirmed the absence of coliform bacteria.
The boil water advisory in Five Lakes came about 18 months after the county warned residents of Sherwood Estates in Quinton to boil water following a main break in April 2024. The advisory lasted three days.
Earlier this year, New Kent’s public utilities director warned that the fast-growing county should take prompt action to avoid drinking level supply issues like those experienced in the Richmond area over the last year.
“Drinking water capital improvements are beginning to lag considerably behind the growth of the county,” Mike Lang told the Board of Supervisors in August. “Future growth projections necessitate immediate action to avoid mandatory water restrictions, low pressure and water outages.”
New Kent is working on two urgent projects — a tank project in Brickshire costing about $10.2 million and a water line under New Kent Highway costing $5.5 million. However, in the longer term, the county needs to source its water from the Pamunkey River as the state restricts the use of dwindling groundwater supplies.
David Macaulay, Davidmacaulayva@gmail.com
