In February, Henrico's Board of Supervisors authorized a public hearing for March 13 on whether the county should move forward on upgrades to its water and sewer system at a cost not to exceed $110 million in revenue bonds. The bond money Henrico is after would finance six projects. The biggest, Cobbs Creek Reservoir , is a $280 million effort in Cumberland County to secure the county's water supply for the next five decades. Of the bond money Henrico is seeking, $63 million would go toward completing Cobbs Creek , a 1,117-acre-site.

"What you're seeing in South Africa is a leading city in the world basically that has not dealt with the most basic needs of its residents," County Manager John Vithoulkas said of Cape Town's severe drought, where water taps could run dry by this summer. "You have to plan your utility infrastructure not one, two or five years in advance. You have to go beyond 15 and 20 because that's how long it takes for planning and approval."

Development of Cobbs Creek is the largest construction project Henrico has ever undertaken, Vithoulkas said. The reservoir will be a 14.8 billion-gallon water supply planned to help with the flow of the James River when needed, like when the weather gets dry and creates drought conditions. Water from the James would be pumped into Cobbs Creek in wetter months.

Henrico gets its public water from the James. Some rural homes and businesses in Henrico use groundwater as their source. Henrico buys some water from Richmond and sells some to Goochland and Hanover counties. Cobbs Creek will make an additional 17 million gallons of water available for regional consumption.

"We're creating a resource that will serve not just Henrico but ultimately the region for the next 50 to 75 years," said Vithoulkas, adding that boats and swimmers will be allowed to use the reservoir. "You've created a recreational amenity."

In exchange for construction of the reservoir, Henrico got approval from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality to increase the amount of water it takes from the James each day. Before, the county could take 45 million gallons per day on average from the James. Under the new approval, Henrico can take up to 75 million gallons per day on average. Vithoulkas called getting the state and federal permits for a reservoir one of the hardest things a locality can do because of the number of reviews involved.

In April, Henrico's Board of Supervisors awarded the construction contract for Cobbs Creek to MEB Haymes Joint Venture LLC for $137.4 million . The entity had the lowest bid and is a partnership between MEB General Contractors of Chesapeake and Haymes Brothers Inc. of Chatham. Construction began in June and is expected to take four years with the reservoir becoming operational in 2022.

The other five projects related to the bonds involve sewer and water improvements within Henrico. Work is planned to rehab and replace aging and deteriorating piping across the county's more than 31,000 miles of water and sewer lines. The cost of the water and sewer line rehabs total $8 million . Since January, more than 100 public water pipes in Henrico either had a leak or broke, said Chip England , Henrico's director of public utilities.

"Those pipes don't last forever," England said. "As they break down, they can rupture or break. We see that in the cold weather periods."

There are plans for a new $3 million sewer line that would be about 4 feet wide and the length of 50 football fields across the Brookland and Fairfield magisterial districts and partly into Richmond . The new sewer line is intended to reduce sanitary sewer overflows and add capacity to the sewer system. Plans call for improvements at the Strawberry Hill and Gambles Mill pump stations to add pumping capacity. A wastewater treatment facility would get upgrades to meet more stringent nutrient removal requirements.

Vithoulkas said interest rates for municipal bonds are currently low and it isn't clear how long they will remain at those levels. The bonds would be paid out by Henrico from fees collected from water and sewer users. Vithoulkas said it's common for the county to incrementally increase its water and sewer rates each year, and he thinks that will be the case for Henrico's upcoming proposed budget.

"We would like to not just walk but run to the market," Vithoulkas said.

moconnor@timesdispatch.com (804) 649-6254