Richmond officials report progress under water consent order; 82% of recommendations complete, staff outlines next steps

Scott Morris, director of the Department of Public Utilities, told the Richmond City Council Organizational Development Standing Committee on June 23 that a Virginia Department of Health consent order taking effect June 28, 2025, formalizes corrective work at the city’s water treatment plant and sets multiple near-term reporting deadlines.

"The effective date of the consent order is 06/28/2025," Morris said. "It acknowledges all the corrective actions we've taken to date, which is about 155 actions. It imposes a civil charge of $6,817 and then the consent order itself resolves any alleged violations that are identified in that section."

Morris said Appendix A of the consent order lists roughly 230 total recommendations drawn from the city’s sanitary survey, EPA’s 2022 inspection report, the Virginia Department of Health (BDH) April 2025 inspection, and consultant reports by HNTB and SEH. He said about 82% of those items are complete and that weekly updates are produced on remaining items. "There's gonna…