Richmond officials outline water outage response, hire forensic and emergency consultants

The Governmental Operations Standing Committee heard updates on the city's response to the recent water outage and the administration's plan for a multi-pronged after-action review and recovery effort.

Megan Field, senior policy adviser to Acting Chief Administrative Officer Sabrina Joy Hogg, told the committee the city had signed a contract with consultants "as of about 4 o'clock yesterday" to produce an after-action report and would rely on other specialists for emergency-management review and community support. "This was an all hands on deck moment and continues to be," Field said.

Scott Morris, interim director of the Department of Public Utilities, said the water treatment plant has been stabilized and the system is meeting current demand. "The water quality is safe to drink," Morris said. He added that repairs remaining at the plant are incremental — for example, pulling and refurbishing pumps and motors — and that the city is sequencing work to…