RICHMOND, Va. – The water crisis that struck Virginia’s capital and surrounding areas in January and left hundreds of thousands without drinkable tap water for nearly a week was “completely avoidable,” according to a newly released report from the Virginia Department of Health.
The incident unfolded during a severe winter storm when a power failure caused a malfunction at the water treatment facility. As a result, a boil-water advisory was issued, affecting approximately 230,000 Richmond residents who were left without clean water for several days. Adjacent counties, including Hanover, with about 114,000 residents, and Henrico, with about 335,000 residents, were placed under advisories as well. The incident sparked widespread disruption, forcing public schools to close and leaving residents scrambling to find drinkable water for their families in the middle of a bitterly cold winter.
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An investigation led by VDH’s Office of Drinking Water (ODW) and the engineering firm Short Elliott Hendrickson, Inc. identified significant operational, procedural, and infrastructure failures as major contributors to the crisis. The report claims that the incident was preventable and stemmed from decades of negligence, poor maintenance, and ineffective emergency plans.
The investigation pinpointed three critical errors that greatly contributed to the water crisis:
- Single point of failure: The water treatment plant was operated in “winter mode,” meaning that the water treatment plant only used the overhead main power feed during the winter months as a cost-saving measure. The investigation concluded that the water crisis could have been avoided if the plant had been operated in “summer mode,” utilizing both the overhead and underground power feeds to supply power to the plant. The plant no longer operates in this mode.
- Poor maintenance: The investigation revealed that the City’s Department of Public Utilities has known for decades that flooding was a risk, yet did not take appropriate actions to properly maintain critical backup systems, including backup batteries, to prevent or respond to flooding events, according to the investigation. Critical back-up systems have been replaced since then.
- Overreliance on manual processes: Due to the plant’s need for significant manual operation, there was not enough trained staff, specifically an electrician, at the plant during the water system failure.
In a letter addressed to Youngkin and Richmond Mayor Dr. Avula, State Health Commissioner Dr. Karen Shelton outlined key findings, conclusions and observations from the investigation. She emphasized that faulty components and a faulty culture at the plant played a key role in the water system failure.
“The ODW investigation found significant and comprehensive root causes in addition to what the City of Richmond’s report revealed. Specifically, the failure at the Richmond plant was not the result of a ‘day of’ disaster, but rather, the result of years’ long neglect,” the letter read in part.
In response to the findings, Youngkin is urging city leaders to implement necessary measures to prevent something like this from happening again in the future.
“The disruption of a safe and reliable water supply in Richmond this past January never should have happened,” said Youngkin. “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.”
Secretary of Health and Human Resources Janet V. Kelly added: “An entire region, including businesses, restaurants, schools, and the most vulnerable citizens in Richmond, lost a basic human need due to both ongoing systemic challenges as well as ‘day of’ system issues. We hope that the City of Richmond continues to address both the long-term and immediate components of this crisis.”
Moving forward, VDH will coordinate with City officials to develop and implement a corrective action plan, addressing these deficiencies and preventing future outages.
View Commissioner Shelton’s letter to Governor Youngkin and Mayor Avula here.
View the Executive Summary here.
View the full report here.