HENRICO COUNTY, Va. — When the Richmond Water Treatment Plant failed, cutting off water service to thousands of people in Richmond and Henrico County, it was Henrico County's Department of Public Utilities (DPU) that took swift measures to initiate a regional response, according to an after-action report presented to county supervisors.
The report revealed that Henrico leaders were unaware of the severity of Richmond's plant failure for approximately seven hours after initial notification on Monday, January 6.
Upon notification, Henrico said it quickly dispatched crews and launched a regional recovery plan, stepping beyond its existing agreement that places responsibility of the facility on the city of Richmond.
"It was apparent to me through the record all the way through that Henrico wanted to do nothing but help the city, wherever it could," said AquaLaw President Chris Pomeroy, whose firm was hired to gather facts and issue the report. "I really don't see in my travels, manager from the customer's side, being invited in and pouring over the inner workings of the producer side."
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Henrico County shares after-action report on water crisis
According to a timeline of events provided by AquaLaw, Henrico DPU Director Bentley Chan organized a meeting among regional DPU directors roughly 10 minutes after receiving notification from Richmond's DPU Director, April Bingham, that city's water treatment plant would likely not restart.
Henrico was later asked by Bingham to coordinate a second meeting that same day.
Tuesday morning, Henrico DPU staff were sent to Richmond's facility.
"Information we were given was incorrect," said Board Chair Dan Schmitt. "Once we had folks on site, that information was better.
WATCH FULL MEETING: Henrico leaders discuss historic water crisis
The report detailed a multitude of issues the county faced, including multiple water main breaks and a "phenomenon" of reverse water-flow, all while receiving notifications promising that water would return that "didn't hold."
The following Thursday, Henrico DPU staff noted a major pressure drop in the shared water system and notified Richmond's team.
"This was one of the scariest moments where it could've happened for a second time," said County Manager John Vithoulkas, noting that lack of property notification and quickness repairing the issue would've put crews back at "square one."
During the crisis, the report revealed, Henrico's own water treatment plant experienced a power outage due to a snowstorm, but personnel managed to restore power within hours, preventing further complications.
Chan noted the swift response: “Our staff was out there immediately and got it switched over. So that’s what’s supposed to normally happen."
While the report commended Henrico’s efforts, it documented a significant delay in communication from the city of Richmond, a point that surprised county supervisors.
“I hope it was an innocent wait. I don’t know if it was a masking wait," Schmitt said.
Watch: Henrico timeline reveals critical delays during Richmond Water Crisis
Although investigators reported that Henrico may not have completely avoided an outage once Richmond’s facility failed, it suggested that earlier mitigation efforts could have lessened the impact.
"We can’t do it like we’re doing it now," Henrico Supervisor Tyrone Nelson said.
Looking forward, the Henrico Board of Supervisors is contemplating their next steps: whether to continue relying on Richmond or to develop an independent water source for the county.
"If the county is gong to invest dollars to get that plant up to a standard level to provide stable water to the Richmond residents and Henrico County residents and Hanover residents, well then this county is going to have a stake in how it's managed," Schmitt said.
“If we’re not a part of the distribution of water that comes out of the city of Richmond, we'd have to break the agreement and take care of our own folk. We can’t let this happen again," Nelson said.
This is a developing story. Email the CBS 6 Newsroom if you have additional information to share.
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