RICHMOND, Va. — Communication timelines, backup failures, and emergency preparedness and response plans are all factors under investigation by the state as regulators try to figure out what led to a water crisis in Richmond.
The head of the state office that oversees Richmond's water treatment plant said it's already clear there were some breakdowns that triggered the water outage and boil water advisory that impacted thousands of residents, workers, and businesses across the city.
Museum District resident Blair Just lives in one of the most heavily impacted neighborhoods, but he's getting by thanks to bottled water he scooped up at the store Monday afternoon.
“I’m not doing terribly," he said. "I don't obviously have a shower, but I do have a washcloth and soap and lots of water, and I'm fine. I can make coffee.”
But that doesn't discount his concerns about how the outage happened and how the city handled it.
While Mayor Danny Avula initially told the public water could be restored by 10 p.m. Monday night, that didn't happen.
“I’m not expecting the mayor to be a miracle worker, particularly seven days into office, but I do expect him not to make promises he's not 100% sure he can keep," Just said.
Watch: Richmond Water Crisis: Mayor's opening statement on Tuesday morning
And though the power outage, which officials said triggered the water issues, was reported early Monday morning and restored that day by 9:40 a.m., the city didn't issue an alert to citizens until 4:30 p.m. By then, reports of residents experiencing low water pressure had already widely circulated on social media.
Avula said the advisory didn't go out until late afternoon because city officials thought they could rely on the reserve for longer than they actually did, but the lack of notice meant Richmonders were left scrambling with little time to prepare.
“At what point do you call the ball and say, 'Wait a minute, the backup systems are going to run out before we get this problem fixed,' and then let people know?” Just said.
"How do you think they handled the communication?" reporter Tyler Layne asked.
"I think it could have been handled better," Just responded.
Other residents who visited Richmond's water distribution centers on Tuesday expressed those same sentiments.
"I think the outage was caused earlier in the morning yesterday, so I just wish they had been a little more transparent about what was going on and maybe alert residents more in advance," Jose Cerritos said.
"I don't think it's been handled good at all, because we had no warning," Diondra Jones said.
The communication process is part of an active investigation by the Virginia Department of Health's Office of Drinking Water, which regulates water plant facilities.
The office's director Dwayne Roadcap said VDH was notified by the city of the issue Monday afternoon and is still digging into when the city knew of the extent of the crisis and how they relayed the information.
“When the power went out and there was a loss of pressure, there needs to be notice to the customers and to us, and it needs to be prompt and accurate," Roadcap said.
According to officials with the city's Department of Public Utilities, a winter storm knocked out the plant's power around 7:30 a.m. Monday. The backup generators turned on, but officials said a separate battery back-up and redundant system both failed.
That caused critical damage to the IT system, which is the brains of the whole operation. It also led to filter gallery valves getting stuck, allowing water to flood into the basement where equipment is located.
Roadcap said inspectors are looking into why and how the city's mitigation measures failed.
“One of the things that we're looking into is why the fail-safe systems and the redundant systems didn't work. Because you shouldn't have this kind of problem," Roadcap said. "Then there's personnel issues about trying to test the fail-safe and backup generator and those kinds of things in advance of a system storm."
Simply put, regulations of these kinds of backup systems are in place to prevent outages and the need for boil advisories.
“Is it safe to assume that there clearly was something that went wrong that needs to be addressed here?” reporter Tyler Layne asked.
“Yeah, I can cite some regulations where we've got noncompliance with the regulations. That's part of the reason why we're out there. It's part of the reason we've got a boil water advisory. It's part of the reason why there's no water pressure or insufficient water pressure," Roadcap said.
When asked whether inspectors have already raised red flags about potential issues at the facility through past investigations, he said there were some findings related to the decades-old infrastructure which adds complications to operations.
As part of their inspections, the state also looks at the city's priorities on capital projects and how it spends dollars collected through the customer base.
Roadcap expects a boil water advisory to be in effect through Jan. 9.
For residents like Just, they're looking forward to an after-action report and transparency surrounding how a future crisis can be avoided.
“Richmonders have had to cope with a lack of transparency from our city government for a long time, and I think there is a huge chance for Danny Avula to step up here and provide that transparency," Just said.
CBS 6 is committed to sharing community voices on this important topic. Email your thoughts to the CBS 6 Newsroom.
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