RICHMOND, Va. — The widespread water crisis that engulfed the Richmond metro area earlier this month was completely avoidable and never should have happened, according to a damning Notice of Alleged Violation issued to the City of Richmond by the Virginia Department of Health (VDH), a warning which also states the city may have broken state law.
“The City of Richmond could have prevented the crisis with better preparation, by verifying critical equipment was functional before the storm event, ensuring sufficient staffing was physically present at the WTP in the event of a power outage, and making sure staff present at the WTP during the storm event had appropriate training to effectively respond to the temporary power outage,” states the notice, issued Thursday by the VDH Office of Drinking Water (ODW).
Listed in the report are more than two dozen observations, legal requirements, and requested corrective actions from ODW staff, who said they were not informed about the critical situation at Richmond’s water treatment plant on Douglasdale Road, which was the epicenter of the crisis, until more than seven hours after the plant suffered a catastrophic system failure.
The notice states that based on a subsequent investigation, the City “may have violated Virginia’s Public Water Supplies Law,” which set the standards for drinking water quality, infrastructure, and oversight. Richmond also may have breached two sections of the Virginia Waterworks Regulations, one related to required water pressure and the other related to loss of water service.
The findings in the notice mirror previous CBS 6 investigative reports detailing what may have led up to the crisis, including a lack of staffing at the plant the day of the event, a lack of awareness of a manual procedure to prevent failures at the plant, and concerns regarding the backup power systems.
CBS 6 was also first to report on a federal inspection report revealing that the Richmond Department of Public Utilities had previously been cited for failures related to its emergency planning and deteriorating equipment at the plant.
Watch: Past inspections cited Richmond water plant for deteriorating equipment, outdated emergency planning (Jan. 8, 2025)
According to VDH's initial investigative findings, DPU staffed the water treatment plant with just three operators on January 6, despite being aware of incoming winter weather. There were no other electricians, instrumentation specialists, maintenance specialists, or other experts on site.
When the winter storm knocked out power at the plant, VDH said staff did not or could not turn on a backup manual generator to keep the plant operating. Staff also did not complete a manual procedure to operate valves to prevent flooding in the basement of the plant. The flooding is what caused critical pumps and pieces of equipment to stop working.
Additionally, during the power outage, backup batteries failed to keep the plant's computer systems operating, and when the power eventually turned back on, the computer system failed to reconnect to the server. Without a functioning computer system, plant staff were unable to see important information about water operations.
"Multiple redundant, backup, fail-safe power systems did not function properly, or, in certain cases, were not operational, did not function long enough, or took too long to become operational. Not enough staff were present at the [water plant] by ODW's observations to effectively respond to the power outage," the notice said.
VDH contends that staff also did not adequately respond to the power outage, likely because of a lack of awareness of what to do or ineffective training.
"VDH is very concerned about the events that occurred. VDH is also concerned about receiving timely, accurate, and informative notice about significant equipment failures," the report stated.
The state said failure to comply with laws and regulations could result in VDH taking enforcement action against the City of Richmond which would include revoking the city's license, administrative orders, civil or criminal proceedings, and penalties up to $5,000 per day per violation.
ODW Director Dwayne Roadcap told CBS 6 the day after the crisis began that failures of this magnitude are not supposed to happen. Then as the state began making initial observations, he consistently maintained the crisis was preventable.
However, the city has not taken a similar position.
In an interview with CBS 6 last week, Mayor Danny Avula said he didn't know whether it could've been prevented.
"Do you believe this was completely avoidable?" reporter Tyler Layne asked Avula.
"I don't know that to be true," Avula said at the time. "When we — and we're very close to bringing the third-party independent consultant in, who will do the deep dive into the blow-by-blow of what happened, and where did systems fail, and where did human response — where could that have been different? And I think at that point I will be able to say with more certainty, could this have been avoided, or could it not have? But I am not there now."
Watch: Richmond mayor says he doesn't know whether citywide water crisis could've been prevented (Jan. 15)
In a statement issued Thursday, a city spokesperson said:
"Just yesterday, the City of Richmond hired HNTB Corporation to conduct a thorough, independent after-action investigation into the events surrounding the water outage earlier this month. In the coming days, the City will review and respond to the recommendations VDH has made and, where appropriate, incorporate them into the after-action report produced by HNTB.
Richmonders should know that water flowing to residences and businesses is clean and safe for consumption, and that the City’s Water Treatment Plant continues to produce more than enough drinking water to support the needs of Richmond and its regional partners. The City’s Water Treatment Plant frequently engages with regulatory agencies such as VDH, and collaboration with those partners at the regional, state, and federal level is part of the ongoing work to sustain a resilient water system moving forward.”
Richmond officials have 30 days to respond to VDH's notice of alleged violation and provide the necessary information and responses.
The ODW investigation is expected to be completed by April 7.
CBS 6 is committed to sharing community voices on this important topic. Email your thoughts to the CBS 6 Newsroom.
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