Richmond water pressure restored; drinking water confirmed safe ahead of Monday repairs

RICHMOND, Va. — Water pressure has been successfully restored across all pressure zones in Richmond following Friday's 36-inch water main break, and sampling results confirm drinking water is safe throughout the system, city officials said Sunday.

Department of Public Utilities officials said results from all nine pressure zones were sent to the Virginia Department of Health, which will coordinate with the city throughout the long-term repair process.

Access and staging for the repair began on Saturday, with work slated to begin Monday. Officials estimated it could take anywhere from two to three weeks "if everything goes perfect and there's no issues." But repairs could run from roughly four to six weeks "if there are issues and it's more complex."

The break was first detected around 1:30 a.m. Friday, when Richmond DPU crews traced low pressure in the water system to a 36-inch line parallel to the canal, below Windsor Farms near the city's water treatment plant.

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Richmond DPU Senior Director Anthony "Scott" Morris said crews acted quickly once the break was identified.

"They quickly isolated the line, and then shortly thereafter, they've been slowly increasing pressure in the system, restoring the system volume," Morris said.

The break caused low water pressure and outages across parts of Richmond and into Henrico County, with some residents reporting little to no water heading into the Fourth of July holiday weekend. Reports of impacts came from neighborhoods including the Museum District, Windsor Farms, South Richmond, the Fan and the Westhampton community.

For Henrico resident David Gray, the timing could not have been worse.

"It got to a dribble. I mean, we lost a lot of pressure. I mean, it definitely went — I mean, I was up at probably four or five this morning making coffee, and okay, something's not right," Gray said.

With triple-digit heat in the forecast for the holiday weekend, Gray said the situation was unsettling.

"I mean, it's a little concerning. I mean, if you don't want to see your water go bye-bye when it's this hot," Gray said.

The outage brought back difficult memories for some Windsor Farms residents who lived through Richmond's water crisis in January 2025.

"I was a little concerned. I remembered the water crisis a few years ago," Windsor Farms resident Chris Howell said.

WATCH: Richmond water main break will take weeks to replace, but 'pressure should be going back up,' officials say

DPU leaders stressed the break was an isolated incident and not a problem with the water treatment plant. Morris said unlike the 2025 water crisis, the incident did not require a boil water advisory because water pressure never dropped below 20 PSI — the threshold that would trigger one.

DPU clarified that earlier references to customers experiencing low or no pressure were specific to pressure within customer homes, not within the distribution system itself.

The pipe that broke is estimated to be between 50 and 60 years old and has already been identified for future replacement. Officials said a full replacement of the pipe is being considered on a 1 to 2 year strategic timeline.

"As things age, they become more dilapidated, more in need of repair," Morris said. "It gets to the point where the point repairs aren't adequate enough to address the needs and then you have to do a capital investment to replace the entirety of the lines."

City crews coordinated with regional partners — including Henrico, Hanover and Chesterfield counties — to balance system demands across the nine pressure zones in Richmond's water distribution system during the outage. Henrico Public Utilities adjusted its system to help restore water pressure, and Hanover County made operational adjustments including slightly reducing water pressure in the Mechanicsville pressure zone.

Morris said the city's commitment to residents remains clear regardless of how long repairs take.

"Our commitment to our citizens is that we're going to make sure we repair it quickly, get them back to service as soon as possible," Morris said.

Customers who are still experiencing low water pressure are asked to call the DPU Call Center at 804-646-4646. Residents are also encouraged to sign up for CivicReady to receive alerts on utility work in their area.

This is a developing story. Email the CBS 6 Newsroom if you have additional information to share.