The Richmond Regional Water Workgroup has recommended putting $32.8 million in state funding to improve the city’s water treatment plant.
The one-time grant is slated for a filter upgrade project at Richmond’s main water treatment plant off Douglasdale Road, which is expected to cost roughly $43.8 million overall. The other nearly $11 million will come from money collected from ratepayers in the city and region.
Henrico County Manager John Vithoulkas, a workgroup member, made the motion to approve the funding recommendation at a Sept. 11 meeting. But he said it was “pending” assurances from state officials that the project is meeting the grant requirements laid out in Virginia’s budget.
“From the city’s perspective, we’re confident that we’re doing everything that’s correct,” said Scott Morris, Richmond public utilities director. “So I have no issue with the motion, and I’m glad to support it.”
Vithoulkas called on officials from the Virginia Department of Health and Attorney General Jay Jones’ office to attest that the process has met the provisions in the “Drinking Water Improvement” budget line item in the state’s latest spending plan, which covers July 1, 2026, to June 30, 2028.
This budget item includes $50 million in fiscal year 2027 for VDH to give one-time grants to localities looking to “upgrade or replace existing drinking water infrastructure,” of which $32.8 million is now slated to go to Richmond.
This budget item language also established the regional workgroup — which includes top officials from the City of Richmond and Henrico, Chesterfield and Hanover counties — and its responsibilities.
The workgroup, which was formalized after January 2025 flooding at Richmond’s main water treatment facility led to a multiday water crisis in Greater Richmond, has worked to tackle solutions to some of the systemic failures and critical errors that derailed the region.
Members of the regional workgroup voiced hesitancy about whether the project had followed a budget requirement that the money is not used to replace other funds earmarked for other projects at the plant.
Dwayne Roadcap, director of the state’s Office of Drinking Water and chair of the regional workgroup, told members he’s confident that the project aligns with the budget language.
Roadcap said that the city’s capital improvement plan budget would be lower if the grant was used to supplant other funding for capital projects, adding that this would be something members could easily verify.
However, the city and VDH have already missed one deadline set out in the state budget. Both sides had until Aug. 31 to agree on a memorandum of understanding for the terms of the $32.8 million state grant.
“The repercussions of that are not really clear, so we’re actively working on it as fast as we can to get it accomplished,” Roadcap told VPM News after last Friday’s meeting. “But we clearly didn’t meet the deadline.”
In a Sept. 11 press release, the city said it would collaborate with the health department “to finalize the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)/grant agreement that authorizes the new grant funding.”
“The filter upgrade project will increase the plant’s reliability and efficiency to supply filtered clean water and adequate flow through to the distribution system,” the release added. “It will include replacement of the media for 22 filters, structural repairs, and architectural and electrical improvements.”
Some members of the workgroup also said they were concerned that the city moved ahead with seeking bid requests for the project before the state budget was finalized.
Richmond was set to get at least $20 million out of the $50 million in grant funding for its upgrades, but VDH officials recommended that the capital city get $32.8 million instead.
Morris and VDH officials told workgroup members that both sides were communicating with each other about the potential for the grant funding months before the budget was finalized with $20 million for Richmond. Because of this, Morris said, the city felt comfortable moving forward with trying to find vendors.
Sophie Delzell, a project consultant who’s part of the mediation team from the University of Virginia Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service, asked Morris if it felt risky to send out requests for proposals before securing state funding.
“Is it risky to put a project out that needs to be completed to ensure that the water quality that gets produced from the water treatment plant?” Morris answered. “I think it’s more of a risk not to do it.”
Morris said that even without the additional funding, the filter project had to move forward because no other projects at the water plant with costs over $20 million were ready to be constructed.
“It’s just a concept that’s foreign to me, because we can’t legally put out [a request for proposal] unless we have the money in the bank for what we anticipate that cost will be,” Vithoulkas told Morris. “If that’s what you did, and you’re OK with it — if it’s not supplanting — then I don’t think we have an issue.”
This concern appeared to subside once Roadcap told members that VDH had reached out to Richmond and other localities eligible for the grant funding to help them plan out the projects.
According to Morris, the city has until Oct. 6 to sign off the notice to proceed with Clark Water, the company chosen for the valve upgrade project.
Richmond officials have estimated it would cost north of $1 billion to make the water plant improvements they want over the next decade, noting the need to address the city’s infrastructure concerns.
The workgroup must submit an annual report on Nov. 1 to the governor, General Assembly leaders and local elected officials that outlines its findings, recommendations and the use of state funding for the water plant.
