Impacts and response to the January 2025 Richmond water crisis
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Regional responses
People at the Henrico Wegmans trying to buy water shortly after the Boil Advisory extended to Henrico County
The impacts of the January 2025 Richmond water crisis were widely felt across the region. However, most of the major impacts were concentrated in Henrico County and Richmond City, as those were the two localities whose water systems had the most impacts. Governments worked to preserve access to potable water by distributing both bottled and free-flowing water, and to preserve access to basic hygiene by opening up schools and community centers for showering and other hygiene needs. Other private entities worked to do the same. Schools worked to distribute meals to affected families. Notable impacts were felt in medical centers, schools, sporting facilities, and the Richmond International Airport. Multiple state and local government operations were also disrupted.
As of early Tuesday, January 7, state agencies had trucked in 70 pallets of bottled water to the city for distribution, with an additional 350 pallets scheduled for delivery.[1] The city itself provided more than 37,000 liters of water as of January 7 to distribution sites and "high priority areas".[2]
On January 7, various city departments and humanitarian organizations, including the American Red Cross, along with the Richmond Sheriff's Office, partnered to distribute water in high-priority areas, such as homeless shelters, public housing, and elderly housing.[1]
City water distribution sites included multiple community centers and libraries.[1]
RVA Community Fridges shared other resources where people might obtain water, including at multiple local breweries and at the Wayside Spring, which is a natural spring in the city.[3]
The city offered water delivery starting at 10:30 am via by calling 311. 311 and the Richmond Police Department worked together to deliver water to older adults and to individuals with mobility challenges; because of high demand, requests made after 2:30 pm would likely be delivered the next day.[3]
Richmond's public housing authority said that residents at its Creighton, Fairfield, Gilpin, Hillside, Mosby, and Whitcomb Court developments were able to receive bottled water at their communities' respective maintenance shops.[3]
Officials continued water distribution on Friday, January 10, and Saturday, January 11.[4]
Hanover
On January 7, from 3 pm to 7 pm, and January 8, from 12 pm to 7 pm,[5][6][7] water was distributed at Atlee High School and Cold Harbor Elementary School.[5] As of 4:30 pm on Wednesday, January 8, the county had distributed 3200 cases of bottled water and 9000 gallons of potable water; the potable water was distributed at the Bass Pro Shop store in Hanover and the Hanover County Government Complex. The county planned to continue distributing water Thursday, January 9.[6]
Residents with even numbered addresses would be able to shower at Liberty Middle School, while residents with odd numbered addresses would be able to shower at Patrick Henry High School. Both locations were open on January 9 between 9:00 am and 7:00pm. Showers were planned to be available in 10-minute increments and residents were expected to bring their own toiletries and towels.[6]
Hanover residents were asked to call a hotline if they had extreme medical needs or were shut-in to report their issues.[3]
A potable water fill-up station was made available at the former Winn-Dixie shopping center in Mechanicsville.[8]
Henrico
The county made sites available for the distribution of bottled water, as well as water from tanker trucks. Starting Tuesday, January 7, the Varina Area Library and the Sandston Branch Library had bottled water available until 9pm. The Eastern Government Center had bottled water around the clock. The Eastern Henrico Recreation center had bottled water and a tanker truck available around the clock.[9]
On the evening of January 8, the county made showers and bathroom facilities available to residents. Brookland Middle School, J.R. Tucker High School, and Douglas L. Wilder Middle School were all open from 8am to 8pm. The Henrico Sports & Events Center were open around the clock to provide showers.[9][10] The schools also provided bottled water.[9]
Just before 11:00 am on Thursday, January 9, officials said that "temporary gaps" were being experienced in their supply of bottled water due to high demand. Thus, the six locations where bottled water was being delivered on Thursday may not have had it continuously available. Officials requested residents who need water to use the tanker trucks where possible, but that residents had to bring their own containers.[11]
Sentara Health and Newview Connects were planning a joint bottled water distribution event January 8 from 10 am to noon, or while supplies lasted.[12]
CBS 6 reported that the bottled water distribution at Tucker High School was 30 minutes late on January 9, and that the resources were limited; the first truck was almost empty by 9 am.[10]
The county closed all six sites at 8pm on Friday, January 10.[13]
The county distributed 153,000 cases of water to residents, made 120,000 gallons of potable water available, and answered almost 8,000 calls at their call center during the crisis.[14]
Henrico NAACP criticism of the response
The Henrico NAACP unanimously passed an emergency resolution on the night of January 7 that expressed concern over the racial disparity gap in the county. They said that it was historically rooted in disregard for equitable outcomes for the Black community and other vulnerable county communities. They pointed out the racial disparities in the infrastructure failures and lack of clean water across the county.[12]
The organization criticized the two-hour wait times on the designated water related concerns hotline. It called for an independent investigation into the Richmond facility's operational failure and into the dependence of the county on the Richmond facility.[12]
Henrico supervisor Tyrone Nelson expressed his sorrow over the situation and said that the county was doing as much as it could.[12]
Chesterfield
Bottled water was provided by the County of Chesterfield to the 27 residents impacted by the City's water plant outage, and the county indicated that it was going to continue supporting these residents throughout the duration of the event.[3]
Medical facilities
The lack of potable water severely affected operations at area health care centers.[3] Governor Youngkin expressed concern that area hospitals were going to have to divert patients and perhaps even evacuate some.[15]
According to Julian Walker of the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association, area hospitals used every outside resource available, including bringing in water tanker trucks to maintain water resources. Many area hospitals went on diversion and discharged as many patients as appropriate; this includes some that have gone on EMS diversion.[16] Diversion is a legal status created by EMTALA, where incoming patients may be rerouted to other facilities because the hospital did not have the staff or facilities to accept any additional emergency patients.[17][bettersourceneeded]
State agencies worked overnight on January 6 to organize tanker trucks to deliver water to area hospitals.[1]
Chesterfield Fire and EMS sent a crew to Chippenham Hospital, which, along with VCU Medical Center, is one of the two Level I Trauma Centers in the region, with a 2500 gallon water tender to help with continued operation of the hospital's boilers and other systems that were affected by low incoming water pressure.[18] The hospital became operational less than 24 hours after the water supply ended because of that and other water tankers arriving and pumping water into the hospital's water system.[15]
Retreat Doctor's Hospital in The Fan, owned by HCA Healthcare, was without water and on diversion status since the night of January 6 at the latest.[19][15]
The Patient First in Carytown was closed due to the city's water crisis,[19] as was the location in Mechanicsville.[3]
VCU
Several Richmond-area locations of VCU Health were closed for water- and storm-related reasons,[20] including the main hospital, the Adult Outpatient Pavilion, and the Children's Hospital. These downtown facilities had no regular water supply for their steam boiler, plumbing fixtures, or sterilization of equipment. The steam boiler failure meant that the hospital complex had no heat, and temperatures outside were often below 40 degrees, but the campus never lost heat.[15] VCU Medical Center, the largest hospital in the region, is one of the area's two Level I Trauma Centers and is the only hospital in the region to provide services like organ transplantation. The facility often operates at greater than 90% capacity, which would have complicated mass discharges and patient moves.[15]
Procedures at multiple VCU Health facilities, including all endoscopies, outpatient diagnostic testing, and imaging, were canceled, and clinics were closed, on January 9.[19]
The hospital went on EMS diversion, including for patients who needed to transfer from other hospitals. Some outpatient procedures moved to its Short Pump facility, which extended its hours into the nights and weekend to handle the increased patient load. At the medical center, bucket brigades were established to flush toilets and used wipes to clean patients in their beds. Wound cleaning was not effected, as the hospital uses medical-grade sterile water that remained in supply.[15]
Sterilization of Medical Center equipment took place at the Community Memorial Hospital in South Hill; over 500 trays of equipment were sterilized and then delivered to the hospital. Some of the facility's medical imaging equipment is cooled by water and may have been damaged in the crisis.[15]
Henrico officials gave water to the emergency department at VCU Medical Center,[19] in addition to a tanker from the Goochland Fire Department. The facility spent about $220,000 on 2.5 million gallons of water, and received it from as far as North Carolina.[15] Additionally, the hospital bought thousands of pallets of bottled water for patient and staff consumption.[15]
The hospital began accepting ambulances and patients on January 12.[15] Officials have decided to install 3 non-potable water tanks, which can each hold 20,000 gallons of water, for future preparedness.[15]
Although the hospital had backup plans for electricity and cell service failures, it did not have backup water systems, given the unprecedented nature of the crisis. The hospital's emergency plan did identify sources of potable, bottled water and bulk water, and the system has negotiated plans for water resupply in the event of an outage. Yet, the plan notes that the medical center's water supply is entirely dependent on the city and that patient evacuation should be considered in the event of extended water outages. Officials are studying changes to the hospital's plan.[15]
On January 10, officials stated that over 20,000 appointments had to be rescheduled due to water issues[21] but most ended up being rescheduled. 500 elective surgeries were also cancelled. Dr. Marlon Levy, CEO of VCU Health, said that no patients suffered adverse outcomes, but that the crisis costed the system around $20 million in revenue. That represents less than 1% of the system's yearly earnings, and some of that revenue may have come back as patients rescheduled appointments.[15]
Bon Secours
Bon Secours Richmond implemented an incident command structure. As of January 8, all Richmond-area facilities implemented water conservation efforts.
Bon Secours Memorial Regional Medical Center in Hanover County[22] and Bon Secours Richmond Community Hospital went under emergency operations protocol due to water service suspension; both facilities' Medical Office Buildings were closed. The Richmond Community Hospital sourced a temporary external water solution,[23][19] went on diversion, stopped transfers, facilitated appropriate transfers, and giving water bottles to persons at the facility.[19] The Memorial Regional Medical Center has postponed elected cases.[23]
Bon Secours St. Mary's Hospital was experiencing low water pressure on the afternoon of January 6[23] but normal operations quickly resumed.[19] Henrico officials provided water to the hospital.[19] While the hospital went on diversion early in the crisis, VCU later diverted patients there, and at one point, almost every emergency room bed was full, with a line of ambulances waiting outside.[15]
As of 9:57 am on Thursday, January 9, Memorial Regional Medical Center was off of diversion.[22]
As of January 10, Bon Secours announced that the only remaining effect of the crisis was the need for patients to call in to the facilities where they had appointments.[24]
Government
State government
The water outage all state office buildings in Richmond and in Hanover County to close. House of Delegates clerk Paul Nardo said that even when water service was restored, it would take 16–18 hours to restore full system stability in the Capitol, and that officials had requested the conservation of water to help with system pressure even after the return of water. Nardo recommended that lawmakers return to their districts.[1]
The Virginia Senate and House of Delegates announced their plans to convene at noon on Wednesday, January 8 to start the session, handle a few items, then recess until Monday, January 13.[25] The state constitution required their presence in the Capitol on Wednesday, and some infrastructure was set up to support them, including port-a-potties being placed around the State Capitol.[26] The items to be addressed in the House included, according to Nardo, two procedural resolutions, HJ 429 and HJ 430, followed by "the traditional salaries and contingencies resolution;"[27] the Senate also met briefly to address similar items.[27] Then, they recessed until 9 am on Monday, January 13.[27][25]
Legislative aides, interns, and most support staff were instructed to not work on the week of January 6–10. House chamber staff were to be present on the day to manage the abbreviated session. Legislative pages had already been sent home.[1]
The Capitol and General Assembly buildings were to be closed through Sunday, January 12.[27]
The Virginia Department of Human Resource Management issued an alert in the evening of January 8 that state offices in Richmond would plan to open at 10:00 am Thursday, January 9, and that any changes would be posted to its website by 7:30 am.[3]
Mayoral inauguration
Although Danny Avula became mayor on January 1, his inauguration was scheduled for January 11. However, that has been postponed due to the water outage, as Avula worked to get city services back in operation.[28]
On January 9, Mayor Avula announced in an Instagram post that all of Saturday's inaugural events were to be cancelled.[29]
Henrico School Board
The school board in Henrico County canceled its meeting, scheduled to take place at the New Bridge Learning Center on Thursday, January 9 at 3 pm. In its place, the board decided to hold a special meeting on January 9 at 3 pm at 1910 E Parham Road.[30] The location was moved because of the New Bridge Learning Center being impacted by the water outage. The agenda of the meeting did not change.[31]
Richmond International Airport
Significant disruptions were felt at Richmond International Airport. The airport's emergency operations center was activated and tankers had to deliver non-potable water to support essential operations, including aircraft de-icing. Portable restrooms for staff and drinking stations in both concourses were brought in. Despite these accommodations, passengers still faced considerable inconvenience due to the closure of restrooms and restaurants in the airport. No timeline was provided regarding the return of water service at the airport.[32]
As of 10:30 am on Thursday, January 9, the airport remained without water pressure.[11]
Schools and food distribution
Most school divisions in the region remained closed the entire week of January 6–10, although Chesterfield County opened all but one school on Thursday.[3]
Richmond Public Schools
Richmond Public Schools (RPS) remained closed through the end of the week.[3][33] According to RPS superintendent Jason Kamras, essential school infrastructure, like boilers and plumbing, all had to be tested and possibly repaired, which has to take place after the VDH-mandated city water testing period.[34] Kamras said that at least 10 buildings were inoperable because they relied on boiler heat, which depends on water.[35]
In an email sent to the families of district students, Kamras said that meals and resources for families were his biggest concern. He said that those in need of meal assistance should reach out to the school system.[3]
The school system worked with FeedMore to distribute food to students via sites at Cardinal and Henry Marsh Elementary Schools,[3][34] a plan which was developed early in the week.[35] The district's chief wellness officer, said that roughly 65% of the district's students relied on its school breakfast and lunch programs.[35] The organization and the district worked together from 11am to 1pm January 8 to distribute no-prep meals, non-perishable food, and cases of water.[34] The district provided meals that didn't require water and reached out to families with histories of food insecurity. FeedMore's chief programs and collaborations officers, said that the organization would balance continuing support and maintaining inventory.[35]
Both Kamras and city council member Katherine Jordan helped to distribute food and water.[34]
Kamras announced that lunch would be provided January 9 and 10 to the families of any RPS students at 6 accessible locations throughout the city; these locations were Brown Middle School, Cardinal Elementary School, Carver Elementary School, Henderson Middle School, Martin Luther King, Jr., Middle School, and Richmond High School for the Arts.[34]
The district announced that it had had to modify its calendar; it converted two professional development/planning days into regular school days to make up for lost time.[36]
The district also announced that difficulties from the water crisis, along with issues with a new payroll system and human error, had let to taxes being over-withheld on about 1300 employees' paychecks. The district also announced their plan to compensate hourly staff for the work that was missed.[37]
Henrico County Public Schools
The school district advised anyone experiencing food insecurity to contact FeedMore and that it was working with them to provide food to families identified as in-need.[10]
Over 1,000 meals were handed out on January 9. Meals were handed out in a drive-through format and included shelf stable or ready-to-eat foods to cover two breakfasts, lunches, and dinners for one child or teenager.[13]
The schools were closed the entire week of the incident due to the snowy weather and water outages. The district was able to avoid adding additional school days onto the calendar because time had been built into the instructional year for that purpose, but stated that any more school closures would likely require an extension of the academic calendar in some way. Other time frames, such as for report card distribution, testing, and course registration, were extended.[13]
Hanover County Public Schools
Hanover County Public Schools remained closed the entire week of Jan 6–10.[33]
Sporting events
VCU Men's Basketball decided that its Wednesday, January 8 night game against Fordham University would be held without spectators due to the water outage. In a statement, athletic director Ed McLaughlin said that they had tried to avoid taking this step for as long as possible, but that eventually they had no choice. He remarked on the impact that the closure would have on the department's finances and the student-athlete experience.[38]
University of Richmond Women's Basketball also said that fans would not be allowed to attend its 6pm match on the same night against George Mason University; tickets would be honored at any remaining Spider Women's Basketball game this season.[38]
Community centers
Multiple YMCAs in the region provided showers and community spaces.[9] Other locations had to close down due to unavailability of water.[9] The Weinstein Jewish Community Center (JCC) on Monument Avenue also opened its doors to Richmond residents.[3]
Intergovernmental aid and emergency operations
Henrico's Emergency Operations Center became active and actively dispatched resources.[9] The county declared a local state of emergency after the pressure drop,[39] which allowed them to purchase water and other supplies immediately, without having to go through normal government purchasing channels.[12]
On the evening of Monday, January 6, Richmond requested resources from the Central Virginia Incident Management Team, composed of members of many local emergency response organizations, to help coordinate the response and restore its municipal water supply system.[18]
Youngkin, VDH, and the Virginia Department of Emergency Management (DEM) remained in contact with Avula's administration throughout the day on January 7; both departments provided technical support and emergency supplies.[1]
Governor Youngkin visiting the Richmond Water office on January 15, 2025
Youngkin activated the Virginia National Guard to help with the state's emergency response efforts; he was able to do this because of the State of Emergency that he had declared. He said that hospitals were among the top priorities in the state. He was able to send 29 water tankers, including 6 from the National Guard, to help with the situation. Additionally, 1300 pallets were being sent and were planned to arrive on the night of Wednesday, January 8.[40]
Chesterfield County Utilities offered its staff's technical expertise to the city as well as the contact information of contractors who may have been able to help with repairs.[18]
Henrico's Department of Public Utilities said that it provided as many resources as possible to help restore normal operations in the City.[9]
Richmond established an Emergency Operations Center at the Main Library.[41]
Rumors
County officials told the Henrico Citizen that rumors circulating social media of a possible cutoff to western Henrico water service were false.[42]
Price gouging
Governor Glenn Youngkin addressed price gouging in a press conference on Wednesday, January 8. Due to the state of emergency that had been declared statewide, it had been made illegal for stores to charge inflated prices for necessity items. However, a convenience store in Henrico County, Rocketts Market Cafe, was found charging up to $20 for cases of water, which normally cost between $4 and $7. Management at the store denied that they were increasing the prices of water cases.[43]
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