New Virginia law requires faster alerts in the event of water emergency

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- Just two months after the Richmond water crisis, state lawmakers have taken action to address how quickly water issues are reported. A new Virginia law plans to tighten the timeframe for waterworks owners to sound the alarm.

Facilities will have just two hours to report any critical emergencies to state officials opposed to the 24-hour timeframe that's currently in place.

This comes after Richmond's water treatment plant experienced a power failure back in January, that left residents and businesses without water for nearly a week.

The bill was introduced just days later, and cut the existing timeframe that gives water suppliers a full day to provide notice of emergencies. The bill originally gave water suppliers a six hour window to report any critical equipment issues to the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) after they're discovered.

Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, then recommended the notification time be shortened even further to just two hours. Lawmakers voted to adopt the governor's change last week, around the same time when Richmond released its final after-action report on the water crisis.

That report cited miscommunications as part of the reason for the severity of the crisis. VDH's Office of Drinking Water has previously said that the water crisis was quote, "completely avoidable" and plans to release its own report on the crisis.

8News reached out to VDH about whether this new timeframe is reasonable and is awaiting a response--the new law goes into effect on July 1st.