DPU says water production restored; lift of boil advisory depends on next VDH tests

The Richmond Department of Public Utilities (DPU) told the Governmental Operations standing committee it had restored production at the city’s water treatment plant and was monitoring state-required compliance samples before lifting a boil-water advisory.

DPU Director Scott Morrison told council members the plant was producing about 60–65 million gallons per day (MGD) and that distribution pressures had recovered to near-normal levels overnight. He said DPU took a compliance sample required by the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) that would finish incubation around 9 p.m.; a second required sample was taken about 16 hours after the first and will require another 24-hour incubation period. Morrison said the city expected an update on whether the advisory could be lifted by Thursday afternoon, depending on those results.

Why it matters: The advisory followed a pressure drop tied to filter backwash and reduced filter availability after an event that increased source-water turbidity. Council members pressed DPU on causes and on what the public should expect going forward.

Council members asked specifics about the plant’s filter maintenance and other systems. Morrison said operators perform routine backwashing—purging sediment and debris—when head loss indicates clogging, and that in this incident multiple filters required backwashing in sequence, which prolongs recovery. He said four filters remain temporarily out of service for mechanical work but that their removal did not affect overall treatment capacity.

On a separate but related question, council members asked about an oxidation system reported in local media as having been offline since winter. Morrison said he did not have the reason for that offline status immediately available and would research and report back. He emphasized, however, that the oxidation system’s offline status was not believed to be a factor in the turbidity/filter event that prompted the advisory.

Council members pressed about reservoir and tank capacity. Morrison said Burpark (spelled in some material as “Bird Park”/“Burpark”) Reservoir holds roughly 55 million gallons; while nearby Ginter Park tank holds about 1 million gallons and could not substantially offset the reservoir being at reduced capacity during construction. He said higher reservoir elevations would have given the utility more time to recover filters and likely avoided the advisory.

Morrison described work the utility is doing to improve operations: drafting standard operating procedures (SOPs), strengthening communications protocols and escalation thresholds, and conducting training exercises and a root-cause analysis with VDH. He committed to reporting back to council with a timeline for preliminary root-cause findings “within several weeks.”

Committee follow-up requests recorded by staff included: a review of the oxidation system and progress to restore it, records of maintenance completed since January, any preliminary results from an after-action review of the week’s events, and a timeline for the VDH compliance-sample results. Committee staff said they would share those requests with DPU.

Staff and council members urged clearer public-notification pathways, noting many residents did not receive city messages directly despite press releases and offices distributing updates to council. Morrison said staff made frequent notifications to regional partners and would provide additional detail on communications improvements in follow-up materials.

The meeting included no formal council vote on water policy; the committee recorded discussion, requests for follow-up information and a staff commitment to provide preliminary findings in the near term.