Richmond VA Boil Water Advisory

[RVAmeche]

Update on City of Richmond water production | Richmond

www.rva.gov

I think that page outlines the official statements by the city. Basically winter storm of ice/snow disrupted power to the city's water treatment plant and since Monday morning tens of thousands of people have been effected by a "boil advisory" however they just have zero water instead of the inconvenience of needing to boil it. Surprised there's not a different advisory or level of issue for complete lack of water.

Basic sequence of events given:

1. Snow storm knocks out power to portions of city, including water treatment plant
2. Plant backup generators come online
3. Some sort of other unspecified issue occurs, resulting in "flooding" of an electrical room and electrical equipment damage. Not clear what caused this flood, if a sump pump wasn't on backup power, etc.
4. As city started up pumps, another (unrelated?) electrical panel failed, delaying pressurization attempts
5. As of 8AM Wednesday (2.5 days after loss of water), 2 rental skids have been added and are slowly building pressure. Local adjacent counties that also take water from city of Richmond have also been effected during this time.

Hoping to have "normal" pressure later today and then boil advisory for a couple more days pending testing.

Given impacts on hospitals, schools, government, businesses and the continued delays/struggles to just supply any water at all this is an absolute disaster. All from ~5" of snow/ice. Allegedly state has started an investigation to determine root causes.