Early last year, Henrico County teenager Avyay Bharadwaj was one of hundreds of thousands of residents in the region suddenly forced to think about something often taken for granted: Clean water running from the tap.
A winter storm had shut down a Richmond treatment plant and left many without water access.
“Things like brushing my teeth, drinking water, cooking, everything — we had to boil water, and this was kind of a new experience for me,” said 16-year-old Bharadwaj, a rising senior in the International Baccalaureate program at J.R. Tucker High School…