Interim report cites power-system failures, staffing and communication gaps in Richmond water-plant outage

An interim investigation presented to the Richmond City Council's Organizational Development Standing Committee on March 3 found that a January outage at the Richmond Water Treatment Plant began with a mechanical failure in a switchgear bus tie and was compounded by inadequate backup power programming, limited dewatering capacity and gaps in staffing, training and communications, HNTB representatives said.

The interim report, delivered by Robert Page, vice president with HNTB, says the event began after Main Feeder 1 lost power and a mechanical failure prevented an automatic transfer to the second feeder. That left the plant dependent on uninterruptible power supply units and manually operated generators. The report says UPS units did not close filter effluent valves during the outage, allowing water to flood the basement, submerge electrical equipment and take the plant offline.

Why it matters: the outage led to a system-wide disruption and a boil-water advisory affecting Richmond and wholesale customers; the report frames immediate technical fixes that city staff have already begun while identifying further capital, staffing and procedural changes to reduce the risk of a repeat event.

HNTB's on-the-ground findings and recommendations

HNTB told the committee it conducted a plant tour, reviewed documents and interviewed 14 staff to date; it said the investigation is ongoing and the interim report may be revised. Key technical findings and recommendations include:

- Root cause: a mechanical failure in the…