‘Excessive sediment’ clogged Richmond’s water filters. Expert says that shouldn’t happen

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- The River City is in hot water once again -- literally. Many Richmond residents are anxiously awaiting clearance to drink their water after a boil water advisory was issued on Tuesday, May 27.

City leaders expect results from the first of two water sample tests necessary to lift the advisory to come in the night of Wednesday, May 28. The second sample's results are expected to come in at around 11 a.m. on Thursday, May 29. If both samples are found to be free of harmful bacteria, the boil water advisory will be lifted.

However, even after this wave of chaos comes to an end, the city still has a long way to go when it comes to addressing the deeper, foundational concerns within its water system. Many Richmonders are still haunted by a water crisis from January, where the city was left without water for almost a week.

8News spoke with an engineering expert Wednesday who said the fact that such a widespread boil water advisory has happened twice now in less than six months is not just uncommon, but concerning -- especially for a city of Richmond's size.

Joel Paulsen is a senior managing consultant with Engineering Systems, Inc. He has not visited the Richmond water treatment facility personally, but he has extensive experience with similar ones across the country. He specializes in forensic engineering.

"I believe both the January event and this event could have been prevented had the right folks at the water plant [been] doing the right procedures," Paulsen said.

In addition to January's high-profile crisis, in April, another malfunction at the same Richmond water plant led to a spike in fluoride levels.

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City officials attributed Tuesday's decrease in water pressure and the subsequent boil water advisory to clogged filters at the plant. Leaders specifically blamed this incident on heavy sediment loads in the James River.

"I don't necessarily agree with the city when they say the sediment load was too high in the river," Paulsen said. "If this was a result of the sedimentation basin being overloaded and ineffective ... that really needs to be monitored. That's a critical component of the whole treatment process.

Paulsen told 8News that, in his experience, sedimentation basins are generally cleaned every 1 to 7 days to avoid filters being clogged.

Based on his expertise, he said Tuesday's incident was entirely separate from January's failure -- but that it was once again indicative of larger-scale operating issues that need to be fixed.

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"If the sedimentation basin was operating effectively and it was being cleaned on a timely basis, they should be able to add enough chemicals to remove the particles and keep their system operating effectively," Paulsen said.

The city previously released a third-party report after January's crisis. It cited a series of systemic issues within its water system and ways leaders had begun working on improving things long-term.

On Wednesday, Department of Public Utilities (DPU) director Scott Morris spoke at a Government Operations meeting. He suggested there's more work to be done.

"I'll sit down with my staff [and] VDH, and go through some case studies to see what highly likely occurred," Morris said. "We'll set up protocols, barriers, to make sure this won't happen again."

For a city of Richmond's size, Paulsen said addressing these concerns should be a top priority.

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"We all understand that, you know, pipes break sometimes and they need to be fixed," Paulsen began. "But to have the water plant go down twice in less than six months is a serious concern that the state should be looking at and investigating -- what is going on there?"

8News reached out to Richmond officials to learn more about their standard operating procedures for cleaning these pieces of equipment. They said they are processing our inquiry.