7 p.m. update: City aims to resume water production tonight, lift boil advisory within 24-48 hours

View an updated version of this story here.

Correction: The water plant has eight pumps. An initial version of this story listed an incorrect number.

Richmond’s residents will remain under a boil water advisory Tuesday, after a power outage caused by a winter storm led equipment to malfunction at the city's water treatment plant off Douglasdale Road.

City officials said they are hopeful the system will begin producing water again by 10 p.m. tonight. Once the reservoir fills to a point that restores water pressure, it will begin flowing again to area homes. But the Virginia Department of Health won’t sign off on lifting the boil advisory until 16 hours of testing proves the water is safe to drink, city officials said.

Low water pressure can lead to bacteria in the water, though Mayor Danny Avula said that was "very unlikely," and the advisory was issued out of an abundance of caution.

April Bingham, DPU’s director, said Henrico and Chesterfield counties, portions of which receive water from the facility, disconnected as soon as a morning power outage knocked out operations and are not impacted.

Steve Knockemus, a Henrico spokesperson, said the county was notified this morning of the power outage and the resulting water production issues. 

“Henrico began making adjustments to utilize more of its supply at that point and moved off of the Richmond system this afternoon,” he said in an email. 

Different impacts across city

Richmond voting districts 2, 3, 5 and 6 are most impacted by the water shortage, with other districts expected to retain water capacity for longer. Still, Avula said all residents are recommended to boil their water.

“It’s really hard to know when pressure might drop to the point where it’s a risk, which is why we issued a blanket water boil advisory,” he said. “The reality is, people are going to experience this differently across the city.”

Timeline

Power went out at the water treatment plant this morning as a result of a winter storm.

The facility has eight pumps, but the room containing them was flooded as a result of the outage, causing all eight to go offline.

At a 5 p.m. briefing, Avula said eight of the plant's filters have been restored to operation, and work was continuing at the site.

Henrico and Chesterfield’s decision to disconnect from the system was an attempt to buy more time to fix the problem during the morning hours.

“We were watching the reservoir,” Avula said. “We were trying to determine just how much time we had before we would experience a reduction in water outflow.

“It wasn’t until early in the afternoon when we realized, OK, the water in the reservoir is dropping more quickly than we expected it to, and so this is going to have real impacts. And so we need to issue the conservation and boil water advisory.”

This is Richmond’s first boil water advisory since Hurricane Isabel in 2003, according to Bingham.

Correction: Avula said that eight of the plant's filters were operational on Monday afternoon. In the initial version of this story, his quote was transcribed incorrectly.

A race for water

Stores across Richmond saw a run on water as rumors began to spread on social media of the boil advisory at about 3 p.m.

Avula said the city is setting up a “points of dispensation” plan to distribute water, focusing initially on vulnerable populations. The Richmond Fire Department has backup tanks available and is working with neighboring counties to access additional supplies as needed.

Richmond’s SPCA put out a call on social media Monday night asking for additional water for the shelter’s animal population.

Richmond schools and government offices will be closed Tuesday as winter weather continues to move through the region.

Sarah Vogelsong and Graham Moomaw contributed to this report.