WATCH: Richmond leaders explain what caused boil water advisory
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RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- Richmond leaders provided further updates to the public Thursday afternoon in the wake of the city's second boil water advisory in under six months. This included revealing the maintenance issues that prompted the advisory in the first place.
On Tuesday, May 27, several neighborhoods were put under a boil water advisory after water filters at the plant were clogged twice by "excessive sediment." This issue caused a drop in the city's water pressure, necessitating a boil water advisory.
That advisory was lifted at about 2:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 29 after two sets of water samples came back clean.
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According to the city, residents and businesses do not need to flush their pipes or replace filters following this advisory. However, food service establishments should speak to their dedicated health department inspector for support.
This is the second boil water advisory Richmond has seen this year. Back in January, a six-day water crisis -- also prompted by issues at the city's water treatment plant -- left Richmond itself and many surrounding counties with little to no water.
At 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, Mayor Danny Avula and Scott Morris, the director of the city's Department of Utilities (DPU), held a press conference at City Hall.
At the top of the press conference, Avula said that the water filters clogged due to "delayed maintenance activities." He then allowed Morris to elaborate.
Morris explained that "alum sludge" -- related to the chemical agent alum, which helps in the water treatment process -- builds up on water filters and that it should be cleaned off regularly to avoid said sludge from getting back into the water. However, the filters had not been cleaned of said sludge recently.
Alum sludge entering the water, combined with the fact that the water entering the plant from the James River was of poorer-than-usual quality, caused the filters to clog.
Morris said the impacted basin had not been cleaned since March, which he felt was "not appropriate."
The maintenance order to clean the filters was deferred, reportedly because operations staff "did not feel comfortable moving forward" with the work order, Morris said.
As filter cleaning was considered "corrective maintenance," it was subject to a "judgment call." Following this incident, filter cleaning has been reclassified as "preventative maintenance," removing that subjectivity.
Morris would not elaborate on why staff chose to defer cleaning the filters, nor would he identify the person or persons who made that decision.
"I will hold those individuals accountable -- you can rest assured [of] that," he said. "But I will not discuss personnel matters."
According to Morris, reclassifying filter maintenance is just one of multiple adjustments being made to the water treatment plant's maintenance activities and protocols to prevent this issue from occurring again. He added that the DPU is also considering making changes that will "enhance the function" of the water filters.
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A DPU executive has also been permanently posted at the water plant to carry out routine inspections and investigations, with the goal of improving "overall functionality and accountability" at the plant, per Morris.
"We are an old city with old infrastructure, and we are going through a period of rapid change," Avula said, adding that that sort of change comes with "bumps in the road."
He thanked residents for their "grace and patience" as the city continues to make improvements.
"I live here -- I understand what everybody's going through [and] I share the same frustration," Avula said. "The job that I've signed up for is to try to strengthen this local government and rebuild trust. And that's not gonna be something that happens overnight -- it's something that is gonna take ... probably years, to build the right culture and to build the right systems and processes. And that's not an excuse -- it's just a reality of what real culture change at City Hall is gonna require."
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He emphasized that he is not interested in "shying away" from the problems at City Hall and that he is committed to addressing them.
Morris did say that back-to-back water plant issues, such as the ones seen in Richmond in the past few months, are "not atypical" -- saying that "a plethora of items" can go wrong at any given time, especially during a "building period" like the city is experiencing.
Morris compared the inevitability of a water plant experiencing issues to maintenance on a car. While avoiding addressing issues with your car is obviously not the correct course of action, "even if you do everything perfectly, you can still get a flat tire," he said.
