Richmond Mayor Danny Avula speaks with members of the media on Jan. 9, 2025. (Charlotte Rene Woods/Virginia Mercury)
Richmond Mayor Danny Avula shared Thursday that all nine zones served by Richmond’s water system are fully pressurized, and that the boil water advisory could be lifted by Friday or Saturday, pending water quality tests. The mayor also shed light on the series of events at the water plant that led to major flooding inside the building and days without access to drinking water for residents.
The city’s reservoir is now above 18 feet, its full capacity, while 19 of the plant’s filters and five pumps are operational, Avula said. The first round of water sampling started Thursday, where teams take water from various sites in the city and send them to the lab for testing with the state health department. It will take two rounds of negative tests, 16 hours apart, for the boil advisory to lift, Avula said.
Residents are still being asked to conserve water as restoration continues.
New details on water plant’s failure
Richmond residents have either had no water or low pressure since a winter storm caused a power outage that triggered a series of failures at its water treatment plant on Monday, Jan. 6 and disrupted the city’s water reservoir system.
On Thursday, Avula attributed key factors of the plant failure to the power outage and a battery backup failure. He first noted this in a noon gathering at Richmond’s downtown library location, and then elaborated further in a virtual press conference around 3:30 p.m.
Avula said that Dominion Energy Virginia, the state’s largest electricity provider, feeds two power sources at the plant. When one fails, the second one was supposed to automatically switch on, but that didn’t happen in this case. When the second power source failed to activate, an electrician arrived Monday morning and manually made the switch. Avula explained that the electrician made the call to not turn on generators, which are the backup in the instance that the battery backups fail. Then, IT systems that Avula called the “brains” of the plant did not reboot properly post-power outage, which caused water pump malfunction and flooding.
“The status system that controls the water operation, did not, when it rebooted, did not reconnect to servers,” Avula said. “So you know, the brains of the operation — that opens and closes valves and alerts the staff, the operation staff on site — wasn’t online, and so there was a lack of visibility into how the overall system was operated.”
Avula noted that the water plant was “fully staffed” at the time of the emergency.
Absent from Thursday’s press in-person conference was Department of Public Utilities director April Bingham, who Avula said was at the water plant, so further technical questions weren’t able to be answered. Bingham did not appear to be at the virtual conference later in the afternoon.
At both gatherings, Avula stressed that an “after-action report” can help determine what further details contributed to the water crisis and potential action items that could enhance emergency protocols in the future.
When asked if human error were found to have played a role in the water issues that those involved would be held accountable, Avula seemed to reply affirmatively, saying of his role as mayor “That’s the job.”
While the source of local water issues began in Richmond this week, neighboring localities were affected too. Henrico and Hanover Counties enacted boil water advisories, and schools have been closed all week. Both counties’ water systems are connected to Richmond’s.
When asked when Richmond officials alerted neighboring governments about the water issue, Avula said that it was somewhere around mid-morning on Monday but that he didn’t have more details.
“We will produce that. We’ll get more specifics about that as well,” Avula said.
Aid efforts and next steps
With another snowfall predicted to hit the area Friday night, Avula stressed that the city is testing its battery backups and checking that generators work, and he said more staff will remain on duty at the water plant and perform frequent site walkthroughs.
Traci DeShazor, with the city’s Human Services department, noted that the city’s inclement weather shelter at 1900 Chamberlayne Avenue has 106 beds for people experiencing homelessness and there are 49 beds at an overflow shelter at Marshall Plaza.
Water is still being distributed at various sites around the city, DeShazor said, and added that people can bring water jugs to be refilled at a portable tank at Southside Plaza. For people who have barriers to the distribution sites, DeShazor has urged people to call 311 for water to be brought to them. She added that nearly 450 of the roughly 550 requests through 311 have been filled.
“Residents that are calling 311 are getting their water quickly,” she said.
It’s not yet clear what the major disruption to service means for people’s water bills or late fees if they do not pay them this week. Avula said that he plans to postpone the next water bill’s due date and that more details will be available later.
Officials in Hanover County said Thursday water service had been restored while Henrico County leaders said residents should begin seeing water flow return slowly, after outages across their respective areas since Tuesday.
Both localities advise all residents to continue boiling any water intended for consumption or cooking before use. Water is safe to use for showering or bathing.
In Henrico, a county of 331,924 residents, officials said water is being pumped into the Greater Eubank water pressure zone from Richmond’s system at a flow rate of about 6 million gallons per day. Department of Public Utilities crews are monitoring the flow rate closely and manually ensuring that the water comes slower than usual. Workers have also opened fire hydrants in the eastern part of the county to release pressure and air trapped in the lines, to ensure that the systems do not break under the building pressure and to help maintain water quality as it returns.
“Our crews are working to restore water service to impacted residents as quickly and as safely as possible,” Ben Sheppard, a spokesman for Henrico County. “We are making progress, with water flows expected to resume beginning today.”
Officials are urging Henrico residents to limit their water use and remain patient as high demand is leading to temporary gaps in the county’s supplies of bottled water.
Tanker trucks will provide residents with water all day at the following locations:
- Eastern Government Center, 3820 Nine Mile Rd.
- The Eastern Henrico Recreation Center, 1440 N. Laburnum Ave.
- Henrico Sports & Events Center, 1 All Star Blvd.
Residents must bring their own containers.
Limited water bottles are available at the three locations with tankers and at the following schools:
- Brookland Middle School, 9200 Lydell Dr.
- J.R. Tucker High School, 2910 N. Parham Rd.
- Wilder Middle School, 6900 Wilkinson Rd.
Showers and bathroom facilities are available at the Sports & Events Center and at the three schools from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily until further notice. The accommodations are available to support residents impacted by the water service outage in central and eastern Henrico.
In Hanover, County Administrator John Budesky said during Hanover’s press briefing on Thursday the boil water advisory would continue into the early weekend. According to the latest data from the U.S. Census, the county has a total population of 114,148 residents.
“This abundance of caution that we’re taking is just to make sure that everyone has the safest possible drinking water,” Budesky said.
On Tuesday morning, Budesky said the county learned there were drops in water pressure, which led the county to alert residents; by the end of the day, people had started to lose water.
Since then, Budesky said, there have been gradual improvements, with water pressures almost back to normal in Hanover County by Thursday and expected to continue improving.
He added that Memorial Regional Hospital has also resumed normal operations after limiting the number of patients it could care for due to the water crisis.
Residents may notice a discoloration or sediment in the water, which is normal, according to Public Utilities Director Matt Longshore. He recommends residents flush their service line for a few minutes using an outside faucet, and then flush each indoor fixture with cold water until it runs clear.
The county is offering bottled water pickup from 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the following locations:
- Atlee High School (football field parking lot), 9414 Atlee Station Rd.
- Cold Harbor Elementary School, 6740 Cold Harbor Rd.
Potable water sources will be available from 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Hanover County Government Complex and Bass Pro at 11550 Lakeridge Parkway.
The administrator said the county is appreciative of the local businesses and individuals who have donated water. Showering facilities are also available at two Hanover County Public Schools:
- Liberty Middle School, 13496 Liberty School Rd, for residents with even-numbered addresses
- Patrick Henry High School, 12449 W. Patrick Henry Rd, for residents with odd-numbered addresses
Budesky said county officials will make another update at 4:30 p.m.
“This crisis that we’re dealing with now is unprecedented in our history as it relates to our water sources, other than when we’ve had hurricane impacts, this has been unprecedented,” Budesky said, noting that some residents had been without water for days.
“We know potable water sources need to come back. This is of utmost importance to all of Hanover County and our residents, we were committed to that after-action reporting, identifying what happened in this particular instance, to further detail, to assure that we do not have a recurrence.”
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