HARRISONBURG, VA (Rocktown Now) – The Harrisonburg City Council adopted a resolution last night to end the local water emergency related to the severe weather effects on the Harrisonburg Water Treatment plant.

Before that, the council heard a presentation from Public Utilities Director Mike Collins on why the heavy rains from earlier this month caused the problems at the treatment plant and why residents had to conserve water.

He also offered several recommendations moving forward with the most pressing need being an upgrade to the backwash filtration system.

“When we run the water, we run that supernatant that clear jar, through those filters and those filters get dirty,” said Collins. “We have to stop production on that filter, and we have to run treated water back through it, clean it out, put it in the tank, get it out. That held us up significantly.”

Other recommendations include reinvesting into alternative coagulants and re-examining the timeline for the planned 2044 expansion of the water treatment plan.