Officials provide more details on why Richmonders are yet again under boil water advisory

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- City officials are further elaborating on why many Richmond neighborhoods are under a boil water advisory for the second time in just over five months.

The morning of Tuesday, May 27, the city of Richmond issued a boil water advisory for several Richmond neighborhoods after filters at its water treatment plant clogged multiple times.

During a press conference Tuesday afternoon, Mayor Danny Avula provided more details on what happened and updated the media on the city's response to this situation.

What happened at the water treatment plant?

According to Avula, increased sedimentation -- or debris -- in the city's water supply clogged multiple water filters overnight. These filters were then cleaned and water production was restored to full capacity. However, soon after, they proceeded to clog again.

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As a result of these disruptions -- and especially because this happened amid the morning hours when residents' water use is higher -- water pressure for neighborhoods served by the Ginter Park tank dropped, per Avula. This loss in pressure is what prompted the city to issue a boil water advisory.

Why exactly these filters clogged has not yet been determined, Avula said, though it will be more thoroughly investigated once the immediate crisis has been addressed.

Scott Morris, the director of the city's Department of Public Utilities (DPU), elaborated on his current understanding of what happened. Filters typically need to be cleaned "every so often." In this case, the water coming into the system appeared to be "very poor" in quality and it "impacted the majority of the filters simultaneously," Morris said. It was having to take so many offline at once that caused water pressure to drop.

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You can find a full list of impacted neighborhoods here or view an interactive map of the region here.

"We are monitoring all other [neighborhoods], as well as other parts of the region, and have not seen any decreases below the [water pressure] threshold," Avula said.

January's water crisis only a few months in the rearview

Though this incident has reminded many of January's widespread water crisis, it does differ in a few key ways. Firstly, localities connected to Richmond's water system -- like Henrico, Hanover and Chesterfield counties -- were informed of the issue more promptly and were able to disconnect from city water.

Secondly, this issue is smaller in scale, even within Richmond itself. In January, the entire city was without water for days, whereas this issue is limited to specific neighborhoods. Additionally, water production stalled entirely in January, whereas there has largely been "consistent water production" during this incident, Avula said.

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Still, the January water crisis shook residents' confidence in the city's ability to maintain its water system and demonstrated multiple weaknesses in its ability to communicate -- which Avula acknowledged during Tuesday's press conference.

"Obviously, January's events raised lots of concerns and lots of new actions on our part to address staff issues, to create new standards and then to build up new protocols for communication — and so some of those we saw put into action here, but obviously there's ongoing work that needs to be done," Avula said.

A member of the media asked Avula what he would say to Richmonders who are upset to see another boil water advisory issued so soon, especially when officials said they would do everything to avoid further interruptions.

"I totally understand your frustration," Avula said. "We're continuing to invest in the system, to improve our protocols ... and I think we've seen some improvement from January's event to now in terms of our rapidity in our communication to regional partners and getting information out to the public. We will continue to invest in the systems ... invest in our people, to make sure that this doesn't happen again. But we are in a rebuilding mode, and I think the system needs more investment and we've brought new leadership in — it's gonna take time for all of the systems to be working properly."

What has been done to fix the system? What comes next?

Since Tuesday morning, Avula said the city has "all hands on deck" to address the issue. Water production has again been restored to full capacity, which is helping to fill the impacted water reservoir. Ideally, the reservoir will be able to reach its necessary height quickly once water use relaxes in the evening hours, Avula said.

If you are in an area that is not under a boil water advisory, you are clear to continue using your tap water, as the city said it is safe. However, it's asked that residents conserve water how they can to make it easier for the system to repressurize.

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"The sooner the reservoir fills up and the entire system is pressurized, the better," Avula said.

Once the system's water pressure is back to normal, the city will be able to perform tests on the water to ensure it's safe to use without being boiled. To lift the boil water advisory, two samples taken about 16 hours apart must both come back clean.

In the meantime, if you are in one of the impacted neighborhoods, boil all water before using it -- whether that is for cooking or other purposes.

No water distribution sites have been established as of the time of reporting, but Avula said the city is looking into the possibility and will provide further updates if such sites are indeed opened.

Incident raises concerns about city emergency alerts

New communication-related concerns have been raised as a result of this incident.

Several residents have claimed they did not receive notification of the boil water advisory through the Richmond ReadyAlerts system, despite being signed up. Others reported they have never received any kind of emergency alerts, even after months of being enrolled.

8News spoke to Avula about these reports during Tuesday's press conference, asking if the city had investigated any such concerns.

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He said the city has "not investigated anything," adding that the city would appreciate "specific examples" of these issues so it could look into them.

Immediately after the press conference, 8News reached out to the Mayor's Office with these reports, as well as a few questions about how the city's emergency alert systems work. We also asked if there was a support line that impacted users could use to report any technical issues.

8News has not received a response as of the time of reporting.

As of 5:52 p.m., the city expanded the boil advisory to some sections of Richmond's Southside.