April Bingham breaks silence on Richmond water crisis
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
/2025/03/21/1742585444844.gif?w=3840)
Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
April Bingham, Richmond's former public utilities director, sat down with WTVR to share her side of the water crisis for the first time.
The big picture: Her version of the events that left residents without water for nearly three days, and ultimately led to her firing, can be summed up with one of her quotes: "You needed a scapegoat, and April Bingham was it."
Here are five takeaways from the exclusive interview with WTVR's Tyler Layne released this week (in which Bingham frequently referred to herself in the third person):
On accountability: Bingham says she didn't fail the city of Richmond and has no regrets for how she handled the crisis.
- She had been on vacation, and by the time she arrived at the plant at 8am on Jan. 6, there was already major flooding.
- Bingham acknowledged the plant wasn't ready for the winter storm, but added, "If I'm on vacation and someone is preparing the plant for a winter storm, that is not my job."
On who's to blame: Bingham blames leadership at the water treatment plant, which she oversaw, saying they didn't communicate issues and that she inherited "people in positions that are greater than their skillsets."
- But she said if she still worked for the city, she wouldn't have fired anyone.
- She also disagreed with criticisms that her not being an engineer made her unqualified for the role.
On communication failures: Bingham didn't think she was responsible for communicating information to the public and said that job fell to her boss, Sabrina Joy-Hogg, the city's interim chief administrative officer.
- She also says she wasn't invited to the press conferences and that's why she wasn't there during the week of the water crisis.
On equipment issues: Bingham says she wasn't aware of how bad the equipment failure issues were and that the problems predated her arrival in 2021.
- "Even after April Bingham is off the scene and someone else is in the chair, infrastructure is still growing old every day," she said.
On her exit: Bingham says she was "coerced" to resign by Joy-Hogg, countering claims from the city that the resignation, which she later rescinded, was "amicable."
- She also disagreed with losing her job while "those that didn't do their jobs have their jobs."
- "Everything can't fall on April Bingham, and there's no way you can make me believe that," she said.
Go deeper via WTVR