Report: Poor communication from Richmond made the water crisis worse for Henrico
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A map of Henrico County Water System. Image: Courtesy of Henrico County
Delayed and poor communication from the city of Richmond to Henrico during the January water crisis made the county's water issues worse and longer lasting.
- That's the big takeaway from the independent report the county commissioned to review its response to the crisis, which was released and presented to the Henrico County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.
Why it matters: Around 24,000 Henrico customers lost water for some period of time, and more than 100,000 county households were under a boil water advisory for four days.
- The district's schools were also closed for multiple days.
The big picture: The 217-page report from AquaLaw, a Richmond-based law firm that specializes in water-related utilities practices, paints a chaotic scene at the Richmond plant from Henrico's perspective and highlights persistent breakdowns in communication from the city.
- Those issues, plus interconnected water systems, meant that for multiple days, Henrico officials didn't have a clear sense of what was happening in the Richmond water facility and therefore couldn't respond accordingly to ensure its residents weren't affected.
- Henrico, much like the public, seemed to get only partial, delayed or optimistic updates about what was happening in the Richmond water treatment facility, which the report refers to as Richmond WTF.
Zoom in... Among the big-deal breakdowns in communication from the city that the report highlighted:
- Henrico didn't learn until 2:34pm on Jan. 6 — more than seven hours after the 7am power outage — that there were major issues at the Richmond facility and the plant may not be back online that day.
- Up until that point, Henrico, and officials in neighboring Chesterfield and Hanover, had been told about a brief morning power outage and that operations at Richmond plant had "resumed normal operation."
- After the severity of the issues was shared, the city, and former DPU director April Bingham, gave the county "repeatedly optimistic estimates" for when Richmond WTF would be back online, further delaying Henrico's response.
Meanwhile, Bingham, who abruptly stepped down from her role a week after the crisis, didn't initiate any communication with her DPU director counterparts in the counties until 8:30pm on Jan. 6., and only then by group text.
- Henrico DPU Director Bentley Chan wasn't getting her texts because Bingham was texting his work landline — and she continued to do so even after the Chesterfield and Hanover DPU directors told her she had the wrong number, Chan told the board Tuesday.
Between the lines: The region's crisis was Richmond's fault, the report indicates, and Henrico did the best it could given the circumstances, including deploying resources to help the city.
The other side: "The city ... was in regular communication with local, state, and regional partners about the situation. That communication began on Monday, January 6 when the power outage occurred and continued throughout the duration of the water restoration effort," city spokesperson Julian Walker said in a statement to Axios.
- He also noted that the city's new interim DPU director has already implemented new protocols to ensure the plant stays functioning well.
What we're watching: Henrico's report did not, and could not, cover the specifics of what happened in the city's water plant. Richmond's report is expected to come out later this week, Walker tells Axios.
What's next: At the Tuesday meeting, Henrico also heard from a consultant about multiple options for the county to upgrade its water system to make it less reliant on Richmond's, including buying the Richmond plant, per the Henrico Citizen.