Posted on April 17, 2025

City has made "significant improvement on attention to emergency preparedness and infrastructure improvements"

Richmond, VA — Yesterday, April 16, the Virginia Department of Health released a new after-action report detailing the root causes of the January 2025 Water Crisis and offering a needs assessment for Water Treatment Plant infrastructure and procedures.

The new report — which reflects and aligns with much of the findings of HNTB's final report — can be found on the City's Water Crisis webpage.

"First, I'm incredibly proud of the work Director Scott Morris and his team have done to address both the infrastructure and organizational needs at DPU — and I'm so glad to see that work recognized by the state's Department of Health," said Mayor Danny Avula. "VDH's report overlaps with the independent investigation conducted by HNTB for the City of Richmond. We'll of course review it and think through the best ways to integrate its recommendations into our work moving forward."

The City's proposed 5-year Capital Improvement Plan allocates over $60 million in improvements to the Water Treatment Plant and related infrastructure. Additionally, the City has already invested $5 million in Water Treatment Plant repairs and improvements since this past January.

"[VDH's Office of Drinking Water] has observed significant improvement on attention to emergency preparedness and infrastructure improvements since the water crisis. The new DPU management team is changing the organizational structure to improve communication among its staff, especially maintenance and operations." said Dr. Karen Shelton, State Health Commissioner in a statement. "Culture and organizational complacency are being replaced with active management and an emergency preparedness mentality."

The City of Richmond anticipates further correspondences with VDH to address outstanding issues and remains fully committed to implementing long-term solutions.

"The City of Richmond is committed to improving the way we do business at our Water Treatment Plant," said DPU Director Scott Morris. "We are focused on ensuring our citizens and regional partners receive safe and reliable water services and will do everything we can to improve our infrastructure and procedures. Whether recommendations come from internal discussions, VDH, HNTB, or anywhere else, we're going to do the right thing for our residents."