RICHMOND, Va. — The Virginia Department of Health (VDH) has identified "several inconsistencies or misunderstandings" with the preliminary report released Thursday by the City of Richmond which details the events leading up to last month's water crisis.
One of the potential errors in the report, according to VDH, is the time of arrival of its staff to the water treatment plant on January 6 following a power outage at the facility that halted water production. The city's report, which was prepared by the engineering firm HNTB, stated that a representative of VDH arrived at the plant at 12:30 p.m. on January 6. That's earlier than when VDH said it learned of the breakdown at the facility.
VDH, the state agency responsible for regulating Richmond's public water system, reported in its initial observations of the crisis that it wasn't made aware "of the critical nature of operations" until 2:30-3:00 p.m. in the afternoon, even though the plant started experiencing power issues before 5:00 a.m. and began flooding before 6:00 a.m.
The agency said there are "other issues" that are inconsistent with Richmond's report that were highlighted in VDH's preliminary observations of what happened. VDH reported those initial findings in a notice sent to Richmond on January 23 alleging the city violated state law and waterworks regulations for failing to prevent the crisis.
"VDH staff was not consulted for this report and is conducting its own investigation of the Richmond water crisis. More information will be shared when that investigation concludes," a VDH spokesperson said in a statement.
In its notice of alleged violation, VDH stated DPU staff did not adequately respond to the power outage, likely because of a lack of awareness of what to do or ineffective training. It also stated that DPU "could have prevented the crisis with better preparation" such as making sure its backup power systems were actually working before the winter storm hit and ensuring there was enough staff on site.
In response to VDH's statement that the preliminary report contains inconsistencies, a city spokesperson said VDH was given a copy of the timeline before it was published by the city.
When asked how far in advance the information was given to the agency before the report went public, a spokesperson did not have an immediate answer.
WATCH FULL NEWS CONFERENCE: Leaders give update after Richmond Water Crisis preliminary report
Lack of training 'most concerning part'
A finding from the city's report that Mayor Danny Avula said struck him the most was that DPU staff were not sufficiently trained to respond to the emergency.
Engineering consultants with HNTB wrote that staff reported "there are no established training procedures or written training manuals" at the water treatment plant.
The reported stated that appropriate training is "critical in allowing staff to effectively respond to emergency situations, such as an extended power outage." The absence of it "can lead to a lack of awareness of critical actions that need to occur in an emergency event, such as the event that occurred on January 6, 2025."
Those findings appeared to mirror some of the initial observations from VDH, which stated DPU staff may have not known what to do when the power outage occurred at the plant and multiple backup power systems failed to keep the facility operating, causing a series of catastrophic failures that halted water production. For example, VDH stated DPU operators failed to complete a manual procedure to close filter valves that could've prevented flooding at the plant.
DPU employees interviewed for HNTB's report said there are not established written standard operating procedures to tell them what to do during emergencies and even typical operations.
The plant apparently does have some documented basic protocols, but some are over a decade old and operators stated they don't know where to find them.
Additionally, DPU's emergency operations manual is outdated and was not available at the plant when the power outage began. Even if it was, the report stated it "lacks facility and process-specific actions that operators would need to take in the event of a power outage."
Staff reported they also have never done tabletop exercises to simulate a response to emergency situations.
This type of limited training, operating procedures, and planning is not normal compared to other waterworks of Richmond's size, according to the report.
WATCH: Past inspections cited Richmond water plant for deteriorating equipment, outdated emergency planning
If these failures sound familiar, that's because a 2022 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) inspection already cited DPU with insufficient training and planning. The EPA found DPU "does not perform tabletop emergency scenario planning exercises in the event of large-scale power failures" and had an outdated emergency response plan.
Former DPU Director April Bingham did not respond to the 2022 EPA report until early 2025, just a few days before the crisis.
"I’m wondering who was responsible for not implementing that training and standard operating procedures and will that person be held accountable, especially since the EPA, back in 2022, already warned the city that it didn’t have the proper emergency planning in place and that it wasn’t even conducting exercises to respond to power outages?” reporter Tyler Layne asked Mayor Avula during a press conference Friday.
“Probably the most concerning part of the report to me was the lack of committed standard operating procedures and standardized emergency response and I think that while we had an electrical event that led an equipment failure, there was clearly a component of not having practiced emergency response that led to this event," Avula said.
The mayor continued, “You’re asking a question about accountability. Our focus right now is to make sure the water plant is up and running. If we identify through the course of appropriate procedures, appropriate training, that people are still unable to do the job well, then yeah, we will manage that effectively.”
Interim DPU Director Scott Morris, who took over shortly after Bingham's resignation following the crisis, said he has already implemented the needed changes.
“We’re looking to have that fully rolled out by a couple months from now. All those standard operating procedures will be incorporated into the plant operations, and then we’ll be doing annual training on those, annual exercises on those, to make sure the operators and maintenance staff are fully informed on those activities," Morris said.
WATCH: City of Richmond releases preliminary after-action report on water crisis
Former DPU Director not interviewed
Notably, April Bingham has not been interviewed as part of HNTB's investigation thus far.
Mayor Avula said HNTB has control over who it interviews but he would be "open" to Bingham being involved in the after-action activities.
Some Richmond City Councilmembers said they took issue with Bingham not being included and are calling for investigators to engage her moving forward.
"It’s not possible to get a comprehensive picture of what happened without Ms. Bingham’s input," said Councilmember Kenya Gibson in a statement. "And yes, it does make me concerned that the report will be thin in terms of detail. That said, if there are still unanswered questions after this report is complete, I would wholeheartedly support having the city auditor, who reports to city council, explore further investigation. Either way, Ms. Bingham is clearly open to participating in the process so someone should pick up the phone and call her."
Councilmember Sarah Abubaker, who voiced her support for Bingham to be involved in the investigation during a council meeting last month, said she too thought the report would be incomplete with her input.
Abubaker told CBS 6 Friday "April Bingham is a critical piece to this puzzle" and that "we'd be missing critical information" by not interviewing her.
She added she shared her concerns with the mayor's administration and that the administration seemed to be receptive.
Asked for a more definitive answer whether Bingham would be engaged as part of a more comprehensive report coming later, a spokesperson for Avula said, "As a point of precision, in that hypothetical scenario it would not be the City asking the former DPU Director to be interviewed, it would be the independent, third-party firm hired to conduct the investigation (HNTB) making the determination."
CBS 6 is committed to sharing community voices on this important topic. Email your thoughts to the CBS 6 Newsroom.
📲: CONNECT WITH US
Blue Sky| Facebook| Instagram| X| Threads| TikTok| YouTube
