This article has been updated since it first appeared in print.
The promise of help was short-lived for thousands in metro Richmond impacted by January’s water crisis. Applications to the Water Recovery Fund, an expansion of the city’s Family Crisis Fund and facilitated by the United Way of Greater Richmond & Petersburg, opened Jan. 31 and were paused Feb. 3. City officials who made the move announced that the available monies had been “fully committed” over the weekend.
“The overwhelming number of applications received in the aftermath of the water outage speaks to the great need of many residents,” said Traci J. Deshazor, deputy chief administrative officer for human services, in a statement. More than 2,200 applications were received for the $650,000 allotted as aid. Applications for the grants, which are capped at $2,500, were expected to be open until mid-March.
And on Feb. 27, Richmond's Economic Development Authority gave the Metropolitan Business League a $250,000 grant to create the Small Business Recovery Grant Fund, which will help significantly impacted small businesses.
Meanwhile, investigations into the failure of the city’s water treatment plant are underway. In a Jan. 23 letter, the Virginia Department of Health’s Office of Drinking Water asserted, “The water crisis should never have happened and was completely avoidable. The City of Richmond could have prevented the crisis with better preparation, by verifying critical equipment was functional before the storm event, ensuring sufficient staffing was physically present at the [water treatment plant] in the event of a power outage, and making sure staff present at the WTP during the storm event had appropriate training to effectively respond to the temporary power outage.”
As a result, VDH suspects that the city violated the Virginia Public Water Supplies Law and has requested proof of corrective measures. An investigation is set to conclude in April. Richmond has hired the infrastructure firm HNTB Corporation to conduct a similar report on what went wrong and how another crisis can be prevented, as well as Hagerty Consulting, which will review the city’s emergency communications and disaster response plans. The city so far has released preliminary findings and an after-action assessment report by HNTB.
Facing heated questions from city councilmembers about the handling of the crisis, Stephen Willoughby, director of emergency preparedness and response, said at a Jan. 28 meeting that “the employees of the city of Richmond responded well to this emergency.”
The answer wasn’t well received. “This is the worst disaster I have ever seen in our city,” said 8th District Councilmember Reva Trammell, “and I’m not happy because my citizens aren’t happy.”
