Richmond Water Crisis Exposes Infrastructure Vulnerabilities: Why RCA Is Key to Long-Term Solutions

What Happened in Richmond?

In the early hours of May 27, 2025, a large portion of Richmond, Virginia woke up to a frustrating and unexpected problem—dry taps and low water pressure. What began as overnight maintenance work quickly led to a city-wide boil water advisory, with officials urging residents not to drink or cook with tap water unless it was first brought to a rolling boil for at least one minute.

City officials linked the disruption to scheduled work at the Ginter Park water tank. However, further investigation reveals the incident may have begun even earlier than the city acknowledged. According to internal communications, Henrico officials became aware of issues at Richmond’s water treatment plant at approximately 12:27 a.m. Tuesday, when the plant superintendent reported that a majority of the city’s filters had been clogged by excessive sediment in the James River.

Despite this, Richmond continued to report that the water was safe to drink well into the morning. As of 9:00 a.m., no boil advisory had been issued—only for the city to reverse course hours later. One press release even claimed that “the water plant continued to produce enough water to maintain safe water pressure levels to avoid a boil water advisory,” a claim that now appears to be in tension with the early warnings shared with neighboring counties.

As of May 29, the advisory was still in place for some neighborhoods pending test results.