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Jan. 24 Newsletter: Investigations sprout at water plant

Weather: High of 39, but early next week is looking more tolerable.

On this date in 1992, a Chesterfield County survey reveals that as many as 400 homes in the western part of the county may be structurally damaged as the result of a condition known as shrink-soil, where soil expands and contracts more than normal. The county mandates soil testing and building standards for all new homes in the area.

Correction: In Wednesday's "On this date," the Hopewell plant employees who came in contact with Kepone suffered illnesses and disabilities, but were not killed. (Read more from the time here.)

State health officials say Richmond water crisis was ‘completely avoidable’

Questions remain about delayed response to 2022 inspection

In today's top story, reporters Sarah Vogelsong and Graham Moomaw dig into early documents and investigations looking into what happened at Richmond's water plant.

“The water crisis should never have happened and was completely avoidable,” the Virginia Department of Health wrote in a notice of alleged violation issued Thursday. “The City of Richmond could have prevented the crisis with better preparation.”

  • According to the notice, only three waterworks operators were at the plant, but more specialized personnel such as electricians and maintenance experts were not. When the power went out, those operators “could not or did not” conduct the manual switch to the other power source and “did not or could not manually operate valves to prevent the flooding” that occurred after other systems failed. 

One area of interest is why regulators and city officials didn’t appear to treat a scathing 2022 EPA report with a greater sense of urgency.

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The EPA never formally concluded its review of Richmond’s plant and told The Richmonder it has had an “ongoing” investigation into the matter since 2022.

Despite the litany of concerns that document outlined, none of them were considered formal violations — a designation that triggers public notice requirements.

DPU head April Bingham didn't respond to that report until Jan. 3, three days before the plant failed.

  • Bingham acknowledged the EPA’s findings on the lack of an updated emergency response plan, and said the city “has implemented steps for completion in early 2025.” 

That, of course, proved too late to prevent what happened. Read The Richmonder's full report here.

Richmond selects national engineering firm to review water failure

An engineering firm hired by Richmond officials to look into the city’s water plant failure earlier this month said it’s hoping to have “boots on the ground” early next week as it begins to investigate what went wrong.

The work is expected to cost around $234,000, according to a contract the city made available on Wednesday night.

Director of Emergency Communications Steven Willoughby told City Council that another report will be prepared on the emergency communication, with an expected price tag of $400,000.

  • He said a new system the city is in the process of implementing will have the ability to send text messages to all cell phones within a geographic area. That system is expected to go live on Feb. 3.

Read more and see the contracts here.

RPS to pay hourly workers for unplanned week off due to water crisis

Richmond Public Schools will pay its hourly workers who aren’t under a contract with the division for the unplanned week out of work that occurred earlier this month as a result of the city’s water crisis.

  • Also, RPS said a payroll error resulted in too many federal tax dollars being withheld from more than 1,300 employees’ Jan. 15. paychecks. Affected employees have been notified.

Read more on the school system's finances here.

In other news:

The editor's desk:

Richmond Superintendent Jason Kamras called Wednesday's decision to cancel school for area students "a very close call" in an email to parents.

A Chesterfield spokesperson told CBS 6 that "weather can be unpredictable and change at inconvenient times."

Bottom line, it's not easy to be an administrator. But it's also not easy to be a parent, especially on a day that ended up largely clean and clear on the roads.

Employers aren't as forgiving about missed time, and after a week off due to the water crisis, then a holiday on Monday, it's tough out there for working parents. Hopefully the next few weeks bring some more sun — and learning.

Michael Phillips, founding editor
mphillips@richmonder.org

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