Summary: In early January 2025, the City of Richmond’s drinking water utility suffered a power outage following severe winter weather that resulted in loss of water service for customers throughout its service area. The City of Richmond recently published a draft After-Action Assessment report that offers important lessons learned and mitigation recommendations.

Analyst Note: On January 6, the City of Richmond and the surrounding region were hit by a significant winter storm. As a result of the winter weather, Richmond’s water utility suffered a power outage that shut down its SCADA system, which then led to flooding in the basement of the facility where valves could not automatically close without power. A boil water advisory was then issued and some utility customers completely lost water service. The boil water advisory was eventually lifted five days later, and services were fully restored.

After-Action Reviews are a crucial element in emergency management that helps in evaluating responses, identifying strengths and weaknesses, and improving future preparedness and resilience by facilitating continuous learning and improvement. Below are some of the high-level overviews from the After-Action Assessment report:

What Caused the Water Outage: According to the report, the Jan. 6 incident began with a power outage during a winter storm, but was compounded by two critical factors:

1. The water treatment plant was operating in "Winter Mode," which relied on a single power source instead of the more resilient dual-power "Summer Mode."
2. When the main power feed failed, an automatic transfer switch (called a "Bus Tie") failed to activate, preventing power from switching to the second available power source.

This combination of factors led to a loss of power at the plant for approximately 80 minutes, which led to water flooding the plant's basement and damage to essential electrical equipment that resulted in the service disruption.

Immediate Actions Already Taken: Under the leadership of Department of Public Utilities Director Dr. Anthony "Scott" Morris, DBA, PE, the City has already implemented several key recommendations from HNTB's reports:

• The water treatment plant now permanently operates in "Summer Mode" with dual power feeds, eliminating the single point of power failure that contributed to the January incident.
• New emergency response protocols have been established for inclement weather events.
• Staffing standards have been upgraded, particularly for critical operations, electrical, and engineering positions during potential emergency situations.
• Inspection protocols for equipment, fuel, chemicals, and systems have been strengthened.
• Approximately $5 million has been invested in critical plant repairs and upgrades.

These improvements have already shown positive results, with the plant successfully maintaining operations through several recent snowstorms without service disruptions.

Next Steps: The City is continuing to implement additional recommendations from the report, including improvements to backup power systems, valve controls, communication protocols, and staff training.

Original Source: https://www.rva.gov/press-releases-and-announcements/news/city-richmond-releases-draft-after-action-assessment-report  

Additional Reading:

• City of Richmond – 2025 Water Crisis
• Richmond releases preliminary report on widespread water crisis

Mitigation Recommendations:

• EPA - Power Resilience Guide for Water and Wastewater Utilities
• EPA - Incident Action Checklist – Extreme Cold and Winter Storms

Related WaterISAC PIRs: 16, 17, & 18