Goochland County names new public utilities director, outlines water system
Marcello Forehand is Goochland’s new utilities director as the county serves more than 2,900 water and sewer accounts and sets July 1 rates.
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Goochland County has named Marcello Forehand as its new director of public utilities, putting a utility operations and engineering background at the top of a system that serves more than 2,900 residential and commercial accounts in the East End and Courthouse service areas. The Department of Public Utilities handles public drinking water and wastewater service across the county, including the eastern side and the Tuckahoe Creek Service District.
Goochland’s Eastern Goochland System buys treated water from the Henrico County Water System. The water is processed through flocculation, sedimentation, filtration and disinfection before delivery. Samples are collected throughout the year, and independent laboratory testing confirms the water remains within U.S. Environmental Protection Agency limits.
Bills arrive bi-monthly and are typically due around the 15th of the month after the billing date. As of July 1, 2026, the residential water volume charge is $7.80 per 1,000 gallons and the residential sewer volume charge is $8.94 per 1,000 gallons, while the 5/8-inch meter service charges are $14.17 for water and $44.59 for sewer. If a bill spikes, check irrigation, running toilets and leaks. The Department of Public Utilities handles leaks on the street side of the meter, while the customer is responsible on the private side.
Goochland joined Henrico, Powhatan and Cumberland counties in a regional water supply plan, which was prepared under Virginia’s water-supply planning regulation and was required to be reviewed, adopted and submitted by November 2, 2011. The plan covers the Eastern Goochland Water System, Goochland Courthouse, James River Correctional Center, Crozier, Elk Hill Farm, Jenkins Trailer Park, Manakin Farms and Meadows Nursing Center, and it includes six golf courses, three stone and gravel quarries, and many self-supplied homes and non-community systems in the county.
Goochland follows Henrico County drought declarations because of its contractual dependence on Henrico’s water supply. Goochland and Henrico use three stages, Alert, Voluntary and Mandatory, with voluntary conservation triggered when the James River’s 14-day rolling average falls below 1,700 cubic feet per second from Nov. 1 through June 30 or 1,200 cfs from July 1 through Oct. 31. Mandatory conservation begins below 1,250 cfs or 700 cfs, depending on the season, and public notices are posted and published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch when restrictions are in effect.
The county also uses the Tuckahoe Creek Service District as a financing tool for water and sewer infrastructure. The district was created in 2002 to provide core infrastructure and a payment mechanism, with an ad valorem special tax of $0.32 per $100 of assessed value in place since 2012 and debt projected to run until 2042. New customers can open water or sewer accounts through county forms, and annual Consumer Confidence Reports and lead-and-copper notices are part of the system.
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