Consultants outline causes and fixes after Richmond water‑treatment plant outage; final report due April 3

Consultants presenting an interim report to the Richmond City Council’s organizational development committee on March 3 said the January outage at the Richmond Water Treatment Plant was triggered by a cascade of power and equipment failures and compounded by gaps in emergency procedures, staffing and communications.

The interim report, presented by HNTB consultants, summarized site tours, 14 interviews to date and document reviews and said the inquiry is ongoing. “This is an ongoing report and we're in the middle of it,” the consultant said during the presentation.

Why it matters: The outage left the plant without power, allowed clear‑well levels to rise and flooded electrical and control equipment, prompting a boil‑water advisory and regional impacts for wholesale customers. Council members pressed the consultants and the Department of Public Utilities (DPU) for more detail about who was interviewed and for a documented crosswalk to other agency findings.

Key findings and near‑term fixes

- Power and switchgear failure: The consultants said a mechanical failure prevented an automatic transfer from main feeder 1 to main feeder 2. With feeder 2 still live, operators could not safely run on‑site generators. The bus‑tie and switchgear 6 cabinet failed, and uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) did not close filter‑effluent valves.

- Control…