Harrisonburg Water Treatment Plant almost back to full service as conservation order remains

HARRISONBURG, Va. (WHSV) — The Harrisonburg Water Treatment Plant is almost back to full service amid ongoing issues, but residents are still asked to conserve their water.

Last week, Harrisonburg residents were asked to conserve their water while crews work on the issues, and Friday, the city declared a local emergency.

Michael Parks, director of communications and public engagement for the city, said that with the community conserving water, crews were able to build back up the water supply. The city always has to be prepared for whatever water comes to the plant, Parks said, and the team has done a lot of work to understand the water that is coming in.

“We feel like we are in a good place to continue to address anything that may come through the plant in the coming days,” Parks said.

He anticipates the community will have to conserve water until the end of the week, but if the city continues to conserve water, the plant could come back to full service sooner. While the city has dealt with very turbid water coming into the plant before — meaning it has a large amount of sediment or similar material in the water — this is not something the city has seen often.

“This process has allowed us a lot of time to consider ways to treat water in the future and what are some of things we need to be prepared for so this does not happen again,” Parks said.

Some ways to conserve water is by not watering your lawn, taking shorter showers and waiting until dishwashers are full to operate them.

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