Richmond issues boil-water advisory after plant issue

RICHMOND (AP) — Officials issued a boil-water advisory Tuesday in parts of Virginia’s capital city, leaving many residents without drinkable tap water following an operational issue at the city’s water treatment plant for the second time this year.

Richmond officials said that the city’s water treatment plant experienced an operational hiccup that clogged some of the plant’s filters. In the morning, the water system had been restored to full production, but reclogged roughly an hour later.

Large swaths of the city, spanning Richmond’s West End to downtown by the Capitol, and its northern neighborhoods, were under the advisory, and as of Tuesday evening, some neighborhoods south of the James River were added to the boil-water advisory, including Manchester, Hillside Court, Bellemeade and the Jeff Davis corridor to the city’s southeastern border.

The city posted an interactive map of the impacted area just before 5 p.m., and meanwhile, Richmond City Council canceled its Tuesday night meeting without an explanation.

In a news release, officials said all residents were asked to conserve water. Residents in the impacted area were told to boil tap water before drinking it, and to use bottled water for brushing teeth, washing fruits and vegetables, and making juices or fountain soft drinks.

People were also advised to not drink from water fountains in parks, public or private buildings that receive water from the city’s public utilities department.

Gov. Glenn Youngkin said the state’s Office of Drinking Water is “actively investigating” the water situation in Richmond in a Tuesday afternoon tweet. “I know this is challenging for everyone following this winter’s problem. We’re told by Richmond officials that they are working diligently to resolve these issues,” the governor wrote, adding that the state is providing technical support.

Richmond Mayor Danny Avula said he would determine the acute cause of the clogging.

“There’s ongoing work that needs to be done,” Avula said, adding, “And so after we get out of this recovery phase, then our eyes will turn towards what’s the prevention-focused work that we need to be doing to ensure that this doesn’t happen.”

He said during a Tuesday afternoon news conference that restaurants, hospitals and offices are allowed to remain open in the impacted area as long as they follow the boil-water advisory. Avula said he didn’t know if city hospitals, which include Bon Secours Retreat Hospital and VCU Medical Center in the affected part of the city, were bringing in tankers of fresh water, as they did in January. He said the school system is discussing whether to have classes Wednesday.

Scott Morris, the city’s director of public utilities and formerly the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality’s director of water, said during the news conference that once water in the affected tank is at full water pressure, a sample will be sent to the health department for testing. Sixteen hours after an initial clean test, a second sample will be sent to the health department, and if that comes back clean, the boil-water advisory will be lifted.

In response to questions about why some city residents who signed up for text message alerts for emergency notifications did not receive them following Tuesday’s water issue, Avula said the city would investigate.

The boil-water advisory follows a nearly weeklong period in January when approximately 230,000 Richmond residents were without drinkable tap water after a power failure caused a malfunction at the water treatment facility.

In April, the Virginia Department of Health released a report saying the crisis was avoidable, pointing to city officials’ poor emergency planning and faulty maintenance practices.

Henrico County announced Tuesday afternoon that it had temporarily disconnected from the city’s water system, which ordinarily supplies water to parts of the county. According to the 1:30 p.m. announcement, the county’s water is safe and water pressure remained normal throughout the county.

Hanover County, another Richmond water customer, has also been impacted, and Henrico said it has been working closely with Hanover, which issued a statement saying that it is not under a boil-water advisory at this time. “As a precaution, we are asking residents to conserve water until further notice by turning off automatic irrigation systems,” Hanover said.

According to Henrico, it has staff on site at the city’s water treatment plant, and the county became aware of the problems at the plant at about 12:27 a.m. Tuesday.

Chesterfield County, another customer, said that it stopped taking water from the city at about 2 a.m. Tuesday after the city’s public utilities department requested that the county reduce its take of the water from three entry points. Chesterfield said in a post Tuesday that its water is safe to consume, and its distribution system “has continued to operate as designed through this incident.”

Virginia Business Deputy Editor Kate Andrews contributed to this story.