City Hall in Richmond. (Parker Michels-Boyce for The Virginia Mercury)
One day before the Virginia General Assembly is set to convene for its 2025 session, all state office buildings in Richmond — including the state Capitol and the General Assembly Building — remained closed Tuesday as the city works to restore water production following a system failure caused by a winter storm.
City officials said Tuesday morning that water plant systems are stabilizing and are expected to resume production by early afternoon. However, residents are urged to continue conserving water, and a boil water advisory remains in effect for those with service.
“We have navigated crises before, and I know we will get through this together,” Mayor Danny Avula said in a statement. “Today, I’m asking residents to be patient and continue conserving water so our teams can keep working to serve our neighbors experiencing the greatest need.”
To assist vulnerable populations, the city of Richmond’s Human Services portfolio has partnered with the Richmond Sheriff’s Office and the American Red Cross to distribute bottled water in high-priority areas. Deliveries are focused on homeless shelters, public housing, and residences for older adults, with targeted outreach continuing throughout the day.
Bottled water distribution sites across the city are set to operate from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the following locations:
City crews are working around the clock to restore full service, and updates will be provided through the city’s website and social media channels. In the meantime, officials are reminding residents to boil water for at least three minutes before drinking, cooking, or brushing teeth and to limit non-essential water use.
Additionally, the Richmond City Health District also closed all its locations in the city for the day, including 400 E. Cary St., Southside Plaza WIC Office (509 East Southside Plaza), Richmond Community Hospital WIC Office (1510 North 28th St., Suite 201) and its resource centers in Whitcomb, Creighton, Fairfield, Gilpin, Hillside, Mosby, and Southwood.
Henrico Health District locations are set to open at 11 a.m. Tuesday, including the Henrico West Clinic at 8600 Dixon Powers Dr., Henrico East Clinic at 1400 N. Laburnum Ave. and Shrader Rd. WIC Office at 7740 Shrader Road, Suite B.
Impact on the legislature?
The ongoing crisis comes at a critical time for Richmond, as 140 lawmakers and their staff from across the state prepare to return to the state Capitol on Wednesday to begin the 2025 legislative session. State officials have not yet indicated whether the closures will impact the session’s schedule, but contingency plans are expected if water service is not fully restored by then.
In an email to lawmakers and staff at the state Capitol early Monday morning, House Clerk Paul Nardo urged individuals who had already accessed the building to vacate the premises immediately.
“Yesterday, a cascading series of events occurred when a power outage from the winter storm knocked out power to Richmond’s water reservoir system and caused it to malfunction, taking the system offline. Since then, city and state government officials have been communicating and working to resolve the situation which is having a significant impact on everyone, including those of us on Capitol Square,” Nardo said in the email.
As of Tuesday morning, officials still had no clean or safe water yet and the water pressure has “gone kaput in the Capitol and GAB” as the morning has started to unfold, Nardo added.
“When water does come back up, officials have asked us to conserve water to help with pressure. So we literally have no water in some seat-of-government buildings right now, and it’s very low in the Capitol and GAB,” Nardo said. “It’s just not safe yet to resume non-drinking water uses like flushing toilets and washing hands.”
And once conditions returned back to normal, it could still take between 16 and 18 hours for operations to resume safely. “Also, there are sprinkler issues due to water pressure issues if a fire were to occur. It doesn’t take an expert to see the writing on the wall,” Nardo said.
The city will communicate new information as it becomes available on its website and its social media pages.
This is a breaking news story that will be updated once more information becomes available.
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