State report calls Richmond water crisis ‘completely avoidable’

The January Richmond water crisis that left hundreds of thousands of residents without water for close to a week, forcing restaurants and other businesses to temporarily close or limit service, was “completely avoidable,” a final report from Virginia Department of Health has determined.

In his release of the report late Wednesday, Gov. Glenn Youngkin issued a statement with more criticism of the City of Richmond: “The disruption of a safe and reliable water supply in Richmond this past January never should have happened. Moving forward, it should never happen again, and I’ve directed the Department of Health to ensure Richmond takes all corrective actions necessary to achieve that objective.

“The people of Richmond and the surrounding counties persevered through this preventable crisis, and now it’s time for city leaders to step up for their citizens.”

Conducted by VDH‘s Office of Drinking Water and engineering firm Short Elliott Hendrickson, the investigation identified significant operational, procedural and engineering failures that contributed to several days without reliable water service stemming from a power outage at the city’s water treatment plant.

A brief power outage at the plant occurred early Jan. 6 during a snowstorm, leading to extensive flooding in the building that kicked filters and pumps offline. According to the VDH report, backup systems, including batteries, were not maintained properly. Compounding the situation was a lack of communication between the city’s Department of Public Utilities leadership and City Hall, led by Mayor Danny Avula, who took office on Jan. 1, less than a week earlier.

About 11 hours after the original power outage, the City of Richmond issued a boil-water advisory at 4:30 p.m. Jan. 6, even as city residents reported low water pressure earlier in the day. As faucets ran dry, local grocery stores and convenience stores were mobbed with people seeking bottled water, and hospitals and doctors’ offices, along with restaurants and other businesses, closed early. The city schools also closed during the outage.

In addition to the impact on the city, Hanover and Henrico counties’ water pressure and sanitation were affected as the two localities typically rely on the city’s water plant. Both counties also issued boil-water advisories.

Numerous errors

There were numerous factors that caused the water crisis, according to the health department report. One was that the city’s Department of Public Utilities was operating in a “winter mode” where the plant relies solely on overhead main power during the winter months as a cost-saving measure.

State Health Commissioner Dr. Karen Shelton said in a letter about the report that this eliminated adequate redundancy and that winter — when the threat of a power outage from a snow event is greatest — was exactly the wrong season to take the underground main power feed offline.

She said the crisis would never have happened if the department had operated the plant in “summer mode,” when both the overhead and underground power feeds were supplying power to the plant.

The report also said the department did not maintain critical backup systems to prevent or respond to flooding events and that uninterrupted power supply battery backup systems were past their design life. According to Shelton, the DPU has since replaced critical UPS systems.

Another major criticism was the lack of enough trained staff and an overreliance on manual processes instead of using more automated operations.

The VDH says Richmond can expect to receive an additional Notice of Alleged Violation following the report, building on one previously issued Jan. 23. The city will need to develop and implement a corrective action plan to address the deficiencies reported and prevent future outages, the department added.

Avula, who previously worked for the health department as head of the Richmond-Henrico health district, said that VDH’s report overlaps with an independent investigation conducted by engineering firm HNTB for Richmond. HNTB, which found “several instances of either miscommunication or misinformation among DPU and city staff members,” issued its final report April 2.

“We’ll of course review it and think through the best ways to integrate its recommendations into our work moving forward,” Avula said of the VDH report in a Thursday statement.

According to a release from the city, Richmond’s proposed five-year capital improvement plan allocates over $60 million in improvements to the water treatment plant and related infrastructure. The city says it already has invested $5 million in plant repairs and improvements since January.

One setback Richmond is facing is that it recently lost a $12 million federal grant it received through the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program under the Biden administration, funding that was meant to fund improvements to the water treatment facility and make the plant more resilient to 100-year flood events.

On April 4, the Federal Emergency Management Agency — now under President Trump’s administration — issued a notice saying that it is eliminating the program, which it described as “wasteful” and “politicized.”

“The BRIC program was yet another example of a wasteful and ineffective FEMA program,” a FEMA spokesperson said. “It was more concerned with political agendas than helping Americans affected by natural disasters.”

In an April 11 statement, Avula said he was “disappointed” to learn that FEMA cancelled the grant and urged the agency to reissue the funds. However, he told city residents that “this short-sighted decision by the federal government will not impact immediate operations at the water treatment plant, and it won’t delay the improvements we’re already working on following the water crisis.”

However, by cutting funding for critical infrastructure, “the federal government is shifting significant costs directly onto our residents and ratepayers,” Avula added.

On Monday, four Virginia elected Democrats — U.S. Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, as well as U.S. Reps. Jennifer McClellan and Bobby Scott — sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security urging the department to reverse the decision.

“Unfortunately, the necessity of this award was made clear earlier this year when the facility experienced a power failure that resulted in loss of water service for residents across the region,” the letter said. “If this award is revoked, the region will be more susceptible to future water contaminations and disruptions in water delivery.”

Hope for businesses

One way Richmond is atoning for the water crisis is by providing relief to businesses impacted.

The city announced that last week, the Metropolitan Business League selected 117 Richmond-based businesses to receive either $2,500 or $5,000 grants, out of 199 that applied for a small business recovery grant. The city says restaurants and food service businesses represent the majority of awardees at 61%, followed by personal service businesses — like hair and nail salons — at 14%.

MBL administers the fund, which is backed with $500,000 from Richmond’s economic development authority, Dominion Energy and Altria.

“We are grateful to be able to offer some measure of respite for small businesses in the city who are feeling the financial strain caused by January’s water crisis,” Avula said in a statement.

Richmond says funds will be distributed to recipients later this month after MBL has received all required documentation from selected applicants.

Youngkin also announced Wednesday that the U.S. Small Business Administration has made Economic Injury Disaster Loans available for businesses and nonprofits affected by power and water outages in Richmond, as well as the counties of Goochland, Hanover, Henrico, Caroline, Charles City, Chesterfield, Cumberland, Fluvanna, King William, Louisa, New Kent, Powhatan and Spotsylvania counties. 

According to the announcement, applications can be submitted online using the MySBA Loan Portal.