Henrico review cites delayed interjurisdictional notice but praises DPU staff after regional water outage

Henrico County on Feb. 11 received an independent after-action report that found delays and inconsistent information from the City of Richmond prolonged a multi-day water outage that left parts of eastern Henrico without reliable water service.

Chris Pomeroy, lead consultant with AquaLaw, presented the firm’s timeline and factual accounting of the outage and Henrico’s response. He told the Board of Supervisors the firm focused on contemporaneous records — call logs, emails, staff interviews and public releases — and declined to make technical adjudications about what failed inside the Richmond plant. “I take full responsibility for it,” Pomeroy said of the report and its findings.

The report, and follow-up discussion with Henrico officials, underscores three immediate facts: plant operators in Richmond recorded a facility failure early the morning of Jan. 6; Henrico did not learn the outage would be prolonged until late afternoon Jan. 6; and interjurisdictional coordination intensified only after Henrico initiated director-to-director outreach.

Why it matters: Henrico buys water under a long-term agreement with Richmond. When Richmond’s treatment plant suffered a power and control failure, inaccurate or optimistic status updates from Richmond’s side meant Henrico staff and leaders could not accelerate contingency steps sooner, the report said.…