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Springs eternal: Richmonders find hope in groundwater

 A man bends over to drink water after fo;;omg bottles from a flowing spring
Courtesy
/
The Valentine Museum
A man drinks water and fills bottles from a flowing spring at Byrd Park in Richmond, Virginia, in November 1959.

The springs’ water was tested until the 1970s, a Valentine curator says.

Frustration washed over Richmond in early January even as faucets ran dry. Lost work, shifting timelines to restore service and toilets that couldn’t flush affected thousands of people across the Richmond metro area for almost a week as the city struggled to begin pumping potable water to residents.

Laney Sullivan’s concern was with another inaccessible water source — one that springs up in at least 15 places in the city.

“It was maddening to know that people couldn't meet their basic needs, water needs, and that there was a spring across the street being diverted into the sewer, and that people could have been using the whole time,” Sullivan said.

One of the city’s springs is in Fonticello Park, which was previously named for former Richmond councilmember Carter Jones. It’s situated in a low-lying spring house that at one time connected to a concrete spigot not too far away. But that spigot — surrounded by concrete walls adorned with a mural that demands “Free This Spring” — has been dry since 2013.

Just a few feet from the spigot is a manhole, and a quick listen lets you know Fonticello still flows — straight into the sewer.

Sullivan, a co-founder of Fonticello Food Forest and Richmond Springs Collective, has been lobbying to get the city to restore access to its springs for years. The recent crisis spurred a Change.org petition, which has over 1,800 signatures as of Wednesday afternoon.

“We're asking that the springs are reopened for nonpotable use, just so people have access to water in a time of a crisis,” Sullivan said.

A portrait of Sullivan
Shaban Athuman
/
VPM News
Laney Sullivan is photographed on Friday, January 17, 2025 at Fonticello Park in Richmond, Virginia.

City of springs

Richmond sits atop layered aquifers — huge stores of water that sit within and beneath the granite bedrock. Over many years, some of the water in these aquifers has found its way to the surface through springs.

“Those springs have been fresh water springs — naturally filtered and available to the indigenous populations, and certainly helped as settlement moved here in the 1600s through today,” said Christina Vida, curator at The Valentine Museum.

Vida said documents and photographs show many of the springs were purchased for business purposes. Fonticello’s “lithia” water, named for its lithium salt content, was marketed as a health product.

Eventually, councilor Jones led the spring’s transition from private ownership into the public commons during the 1920s. The spring, though public, remained a marketing tool, used to encourage residents to buy up new homes being built around the park.

The water was tested through a state program until the 1970s, Vida said. After that, tests became less frequent and eventually petered out entirely. With a modern city functioning atop the water today, there’s no guarantee that pollutants haven’t contaminated it.

“The city legally couldn't tell people to go and get potable water there,” Vida said.

That’s still the case today — hence Sullivan’s petition specifically calling for the springs to be restored as nonpotable sources.

Despite the legal caveat, some of Richmond’s springs have remained accessible and are utilized by residents today.

That sight would have been more commonplace in the past, according to Vida. Lots of Richmonders didn’t have full plumbing in their homes until the ’40s and ’50s.

“Folks who might need water for their horses are going to come, they're going to come and they're going to bring their own water containers, whether those are gallon buckets or barrels, and take them back home. This is going to be a daily occurrence,” Vida said. “So, it becomes this gathering site, and to have sort of those nice natural settings in a park, makes it all the more of an enjoyable experience.”

What comes next?

Sullivan hopes the petition will help Richmonders reconnect with the city’s natural resources, as well as the sense of community they once fostered.

“It was more than just a place to get water. It was like a spiritual and cultural epicenter, and the community really felt a great sense of loss when it was closed,” Sullivan said.

City Councilor Stephanie Lynch has worked on improving Fonticello Park since taking office in 2019, filing budget amendments to upgrade amenities and even renaming the park.

Lynch also signed onto the petition to reopen the springs.

“I think it would be a very special way to honor the park’s history,” Lynch said.

She acknowledged the city Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities has many competing priorities, and would have to weigh the costs of freeing this spring and others against needs throughout town.

Sullivan said parks department representatives seemed open to the idea of using spring water to irrigate Fonticello's growing food and native plant gardens — and to have in case of emergencies.

But none of that is set in stone.

Until it is, Richmonders will likely continue using springs around town — but only at their own risk.

Patrick Larsen is the environment and energy reporter for VPM News.