Richmond's plan to prevent another water outage during weekend storm
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Volunteers handing out cases of bottled water to Richmond residents at Broad Rock Library on Wednesday. Photo: John C. Clark/For The Washington Post via Getty Images
Richmond is once again facing 2 to 4 inches of snow this weekend.
Why it matters: Residents have seen firsthand how winter storms can threaten local water supplies.
Driving the news: On Thursday afternoon, city officials laid out their plans to prevent the incoming snow event from turning out how it did on Monday — with a power outage leading to the water plant flooding and cutting off Richmond's running water for nearly three days.
What happened last time, per Mayor Avula: An automatic switch to a backup power source didn't automatically switch when the outage happened. An operator told the mayor he hadn't seen that happen in 25 years.
- An electrician determined after manually turning it on that the backup generators weren't needed.
- But by then, a battery backup had failed, and the IT system that alerts staff to problems and controls the valves crashed.
- That led to a lack of visibility to what was going on for staff and flooding.
What will be different this time: Avula said they're increasing staffing and surveillance roles at the plant through the weather event and weekend.
- They're testing generator backups and battery backups, increasing the frequency of site inspections and having additional mechanics, technicians, electricians and engineers on standby.
- The IT contractors who support the computer system that previously crashed will be onsite.
- Dominion Energy will be on "high alert" monitoring the plant's power.
What they're saying: "It certainly seems like they're doing everything they can to prevent this from happening this weekend," Darren Olson, a water resources engineer who chairs the American Society of Civil Engineers' Committee on America's Infrastructure, told Axios.
What's next: Avula vowed to be "absolutely committed to being transparent" and "running a rigorous, comprehensive" investigation into how this happened. The city has already reached out to a firm to help with it, per the mayor.
- And when asked if people would be held accountable if leadership or personnel failures are found, he said "That's the job."
Go deeper:
- Richmond area should have water again but boil advisories still in effect
- How Richmonders can safely use water under the boil water advisory
- Richmond water outage forces city schools to close until Monday
- Henrico declares state of emergency amid water issues stemming from Richmond
- Richmond's under a boil water advisory, and some residents don't have water at all (from Monday)