On Jan. 6, 2025, Richmond’s water treatment facility lost power and failed to automatically switch over to its main backup power source. According to AXIOS Richmond, an Electrician was called in to manually switch the system over to the backup power source, but the loss of power caused the plant’s main computer system, SCADA, to crash. Dominion Energy then fully restored power to the plant, but was yet to be operational.
At 1:00pm that day, Richmond Mayor Danny Avula was informed about the water plant issues that had occurred early in the morning. Reports then slowly started circulating around the media that communities had no running water.
Later that day, residents in the Richmond, Henrico and Hanover area started losing water pressure. A boil advisory then went into place due to potential contamination in the water supply. These individuals were also urged to conserve water.
In this time of crisis, people were frustrated with Mayor Avula for providing little to no information about what was going on. Surrounding counties were relying on promised deadlines for their water supply to return. These deadlines then come and go.
On Jan. 7, several neighborhoods in the surrounding area did not have access to water. According to AXIOS Richmond, Mayor Avula stated that there wasn’t “actual continued functioning” of a pump filling water tanks until Tuesday. However, Henrico County was able to regain water supply thanks to the Henrico Water Treatment Facility.
Communities in need of water were given locations where they could pick up packs of water. However, supply was limited as many individuals went home empty handed. Hanover County residents were urged to go to Cold Harbor Elementary School and Atlee High School to get free water, but lines were extremely long, stretching miles and miles and blocking roads and intersections. YMCA’s located all over Henrico offered free showers for those affected in Richmond and Hanover locations. Businesses in these areas had to close down due to employees not being able to use the bathroom; many larger chain stores such as Kroger and Publix had brought porter potties for individuals to use.
That afternoon, water production was fully restored to the plant, but will take several hours for residents to receive running water. On Jan. 9, most of the region had running water, but was placed under a boil advisory for 48 hours.
Water was then tested for any potential contaminants, and the boil advisory was then lifted on Jan. 11.
Residents showcased great concern with how such little snow could completely deplete the region of water. According to Virginia Mercury, “a 2022 U.S Environmental Protection Agency audit cited Richmond for multiple violations, including corroded pumps, cracked filters, insufficient maintenance and outdated emergency response plans.” There isn’t an exact confirmation if aging infrastructure could have been a potential cause for power and water failures, but evidence shows it played a big role. 8News was able to get their hands on a 114 page report compiled by the EPA, in which they found concerning discoveries. The most concerning findings are as follows: staff were not prepared for emergency situations, there was degrading, broken and unreliable infrastructure, inspectors found debris, rust, corrosion and standing water, parts of the system were poorly monitored and several other threats were identified across the system.
Residents remain hopeful that eventually these concerns will be addressed before the next winter storm. Until then, this experience has taught many individuals the art of conserving water and using their resources.
