As of Jan. 11, the boil advisories in Greater Richmond have been lifted. Click here for an explainer on flushing your pipes after a boil advisory.
In a midday press conference Thursday, Mayor Danny Avula provided an update on the ongoing water crisis that has gripped the Richmond community for the last four days.
“I'll start with the great news, which is that our system now is fully pressurized in all nine zones,” Avula said from the city’s makeshift emergency operation center at the Main Library.
The crisis — stemming from a malfunction at the city’s water treatment plant Monday, following 4 inches of snow from Winter Storm Blair — has significantly disrupted daily life for residents and shut down local businesses. As of the press conference, it’s estimated that Richmond’s water situation may return to normal this weekend.
As of 5 p.m. Thursday, the mayor's office announced that 19 of 22 filters, as well as 5 of 8 water pumps, are in service. The water treatment facility is receiving additional support from two temporary pumps.
Throughout the city's water distribution network, all zones have exceeded the threshold needed for water safety testing to begin.
With a fully pressurized system and the city’s reservoir system at over 18 feet of water, Avula said he’s feeling optimistic as city officials work through testing protocols with the Virginia Department of Health.
The city’s boil water advisory will remain in effect until officials are able to test the water twice — separated by 16 hours — and receive results indicating the water is potable.
During Wednesday’s first press conference, Avula said the first test would happen later in the afternoon once full pressure returned, but that did not occur.
“We have started the first test right where we pull multiple samples, those are in process and started a couple hours ago, [the] process of being collected and analyzed in the lab,” Avula said.
But as water flow returns, Avula is still advising residents to boil all city water intended for drinking, cooking or brushing teeth to eliminate potential contaminants. Henrico and eastern Hanover and Goochland counties also remain under boil water notices.
“If all goes well, we should be able to [lift the boil advisory] tomorrow or early Saturday,” he said. “So really hoping for good results here, knowing that this is, as I said yesterday, a very low probability occurrence that we have contamination.”
Dwayne Roadcap, director of VDH's Office of Drinking Water, told VPM News on Thursday afternoon that the results from the certified lab sampling should be finished by Saturday.
“Essentially, the water leaving the [Richmond] water treatment plant fully complies with drinking water standards and is adequately disinfected,” Roadcap said. “The sampling is to confirm that the disinfection has adequately happened throughout the distribution system.”
He said the sampling is to verify that Richmond's water contains no risk from bacteriological or viral contaminants.
In a later press call with reporters, Avula confirmed that even under a water boil advisory, Richmond residents should feel safe enough to shower.
“To clarify that right now, there's no poop in the water. The water is highly chlorinated,” Avula said. “You should feel free to shower.”
When was the mayor informed?
Avula — who’s on Day 9 on the job as mayor — said he is just as interested as the public and reporters in figuring out the sequence of events that led to the plant failing Monday morning.
At Thursday’s presser, he publicly committed to telling the public the exact sequence of events and what went wrong in his after action report, as well as hold leadership and management accountable if failures exist.
“We need to make sure that we've got the right protocols in place, the right people in place, the right systems in place to provide the basic services that our city needs, so absolutely,” he said.
When questioned about Department of Public Utilities Director April Bingham’s leadership and qualifications, Avula said: “I’ve been absolutely impressed with April's attentiveness and response. Again, I'm a week into this job just getting to know everybody, know the operation.”
Avula revealed he was not notified that the plant was failing until 1 p.m. Monday.
“We had a brief conversation. Just as in the morning check in – ‘Hey, we may be having some power outages — power issues, and we're actively assessing it.’ And then, one o'clock, I was part of the meeting,” Avula said, before being ushered away by his interim press secretary, Julian Walker.
Looking ahead
Avula said DPU teams are dealing with water main breaks. He said with the cold temperatures, the breaks are not surprising, after a couple were reported.
“Our DPU teams are out looking at those now – two in a day like this – where we have cold temperatures, is not uncommon. We had days in the past where we’ve had three to five in a day, even without this water crisis in the background,” he said.
Avula also highlighted how the DPU team is preparing for potential snowfall Friday.
“We have been testing battery backups, making sure that the generators are working, increasing the staffing and surveillance roles at the plant during the weather event.”
In Wednesday’s meeting Bingham — who was not present at Thursday’s press conference because she was reportedly at the plant — said it’s going to take “people, pipes and pumps” to keep the plant operating this weekend.
Avula said the city has continued commitment from its regional partners to have additional staff, mechanics, technicians, electricians, and engineers on standby. Dominion Energy also is on “high alert” and monitoring any potential power outages.
“So really looking thoroughly at all of the different components of the system, making sure that we have the right experts — either on site or a call away — and increasing our surveillance and monitoring if we are to have another outage, to make sure we prevent this from happening again,” Avula said.
During press conferences earlier this week, Avula and Bingham noted that the last time Richmond experienced a significant water outage was after Hurricane Isabel in 2003 — which dumped 5 inches of rainfall, recorded winds of about 73 mph and caused a 9-foot storm surge along the James River.
