“Where's My Water?”

The Richmond Water Crisis had a widespread impact on the city population, leaving thou-sands with dry taps this past January. Residents were unable to drink tap water, shower or wash clothes for multiple days, dramatically affecting their daily routines. At St. Christopher’s, we missed four days of school, going virtual on the Friday of our first week back from Winter Break.

The crisis spiraled out of control following a sizable winter storm in RVA. At 7:30 am on Monday, Jan. 6th, the issues flooded in. A small electrical outage from the water system led to a cascading domino effect. Pipes started bursting at the seams. Water was sputtering everywhere and completely flooding the plants. A video, which surfaced on social media a few days in, showed the disastrous damage. Little did people know that this issue would quickly spiral out of control into the city-wide situation it became.

The disappearance of water was a problem for many households throughout the week of Jan. 6th. In my experience with my family, we had to wait patiently and make do with a tough situation until water pressure was restored. And, while I don’t remember the exact time the water pressure re-turned, I estimate it was around Friday. On top of that, we had to continue waiting patiently with the city, as there was still a boil-water advisory. However, on Saturday (January 11th), the advisory was lifted following two negative bacteria tests (16 hours apart). From here, everything began to return to normal.

However, it took a while for the public to understand the situation and understand what had transpired. At the time, people didn’t realize how long the advisory would last and how bad the issues facing the city truly were. It was in the hands of the city government to guide the people of Richmond through this problem. Unfortunately, in the beginning, there were few notifications to the public due to uncertainty on the part of elected officials like newly-appointed Mayor Danny Avula.

The Richmond City Department of Utilities (DPU) worked tirelessly in the ensuing days to replace pumps, test the supply, and make other critical repairs to the plant. In doing this, the city eventually tamed the situation and successfully subdued all water issues.

As we reflect on this period with the benefit of hindsight, there are lessons of gratitude to be gained. In talking to an anonymous Richmond resident, she said, “I learned that our society is highly dependent on a nonstop supply of clean water. It made me appreciate how hard it must be to live somewhere where clean water is not readily available.”