RICHMOND, Va. — Richmond was not required to issue a boil water advisory after a recent water main break. But the state's top drinking water official says the city could have issued a precautionary advisory for residents who experienced prolonged water issues and chose not to.
Some Richmond residents in the Near West End, including David Sarawesky, said they experienced low water pressure for more than 36 hours following a water main break early Friday morning, even after the city's Department of Public Utilities (DPU) announced Friday evening that pressure had been restored.
"They're saying everyone's got it back. We don't. My block does not, we're concerned," Sarawesky said. "I felt that there was a bit of a victory lap before there was a victory. I think that was the frustrating part as one of the people that was kind of left out."
On Saturday, Sarawesky sent CBS 6 a video showing water sputtering out of his shower head. He said the pressure was too low and he had to find somewhere else to bathe.
"Bottom floor, I can get a little bit of pressure enough to fill up a glass of water, like with some patience, nothing you could, like, take a shower or anything of that nature," Sarawesky said.
Another resident in the Westhampton area sent CBS 6 video of water trickling from her sink as of Saturday morning.
DPU has not directly answered questions about what exactly caused some neighborhoods to experience extended pressure problems.
However, Dwayne Roadcap, the Director of the Office of Drinking Water at the Virginia Department of Health, explained the issues may have had something to do with the complexities of the city's distribution system.
"It's possible that you can have disparate or different kind of impacts in the distribution system. It can depend on how close you are to the break, it can depend on your elevation, it can depend on the size of the water line that that's feeding your area," Roadcap said.
Roadcap, who was engaged in Richmond's response to the water main break, said the city was not required under regulations to issue a boil water advisory but could have issued a precautionary one to communities impacted by prolonged low water pressure. A precautionary advisory would not confirm a contamination but serve as a protective measure as additional investigation is performed.
"The city had the choice to do one, and it decided that it wasn't necessary. From the public drinking water side of it, we were comfortable with that decision based on what we were seeing, just like what the city of Richmond was seeing," Roadcap said.
Roadcap said that decision was based on sampling from multiple points in the water distribution system, which showed residual chlorine levels were at an appropriate level to reduce risks associated with potential pressure problems.
Richmond DPU did not respond to an interview request, but spokesperson Rhonda Johnson said in an email that the department checked pressure on area hydrants and confirmed it was above the regulatory threshold of 20 PSI. Anything below 20 PSI would trigger a required boil water advisory, per regulations.
Johnson added DPU was able to divert extra water to the Near West End to increase pressure.
“Did DPU send extra water to that area before testing the water pressure?” reporter Tyler Layne asked.
“I don't know the timeline. I do know that, as part of responding to the customer concerns and what they were hearing, that they adjusted flows and flow rates and valves to increase pressure in that general area. Whether they did that before or after they took pressure readings in the system, I'm not sure," Roadcap said.
“Would that have made a difference? Because if they did the testing after they sent more water to that area, how would we know whether the PSI dipped below 20?” Layne asked.
“Yeah, it's hard to know, and so that's really a question for the city," Roadcap said.
CBS 6 did ask the city that question and has not yet received a response.
Roadcap said his office will conduct an after-action review of the incident, but he expressed confidence in how the city handled it overall.
"So, we feel like public health was protected through this event, that the city made reasonable decisions," Roadcap said.
For Sarawesky, he's just glad the water is back to normal.
"It's unfortunate. We survived," Sarawesky said.
CBS 6 is committed to sharing community voices on this important topic. Email your thoughts to the CBS 6 Newsroom.
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