RICHMOND, Va. — Richmond's Incident Response Assessment and Improvement Plan has identified major challenges in how the city handled January's water crisis, particularly in operational coordination and communications.
The report, which uses a Federal Emergency Management Agency grading chart, breaks down the city's response into eight categories and offers dozens of recommendations for improvement. It found two categories it said the city "performed with major challenges": Operational Coordination and Operational Communications.
On the coordination side, while teams were able to operate through informal and ad hoc methods in order to get things done, it found there was not a clear chain of command at the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and that led to confusion in the decision-making process.
It adds multiple teams sometimes requested the same resources, leading to more than was needed.
The report did credit staff with stepping up as needed and the work of Mayor Danny Avula's administration with only a few days on the job.
While response teams operated through informal methods to address the crisis, the report found there wasn't a clear chain of command at the Emergency Operations Center (EOC), leading to confusion in decision-making processes.
"Response teams were able to operate through informal and ad hoc methods to get things done," the report states.
Multiple teams sometimes requested the same resources, resulting in excess supplies, investigators found.
Despite these challenges, the report credited staff for stepping up as needed and acknowledged Richmond Mayor Danny Avula's administration for managing the crisis with only a few days in office.
Communication issues were another significant problem area.
While there was some effective initial communication with Richmond City Council and among individual teams, not everyone who needed the EOC activation notice received it, as the city was transitioning to a new alert system.
The city failed to provide unified messaging to stakeholders, and information flow about updates at the water treatment plant was inconsistent, especially for teams not in the EOC, it was determined.
Gaps in communication between decision-makers and lower-level staff created what the report called an "information imbalance."
Public communication also suffered from coordination problems that led to message discrepancies and confusion.
The city relied heavily on Instagram for updates, which isn't accessible to all residents.
In one example, showers were set up with churches for public use, but this information wasn't shared widely with the public.
The crisis highlighted interdependencies in water infrastructure inside and outside the city. VCU Health was informally notified early about the potential boil water advisory but wasn't on formal EOC distribution lists.
Beyond the water crisis, the report noted that Richmond lacks formalized or updated plans for other critical events such as mass casualty incidents, family reunification, and active shooter situations, recommending these be updated or completed.
The full report is available here.
Mayor Danny Avula shared the following statement with CBS 6:
“The final report provides valuable insight into the ongoing work needed to strengthen our emergency preparedness. I am fully committed to taking the necessary steps to ensure we’re well prepared for future emergencies because nothing is more important to me than the health and safety of the city’s residents, families, and businesses. I look forward to working with the team to make continued progress in the weeks and months ahead.”
CBS 6 is committed to sharing community voices on this important topic. Email your thoughts to the CBS 6 Newsroom.
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