Fluoride spike at Richmond water plant reignites calls for regional management

A spike in fluoride levels during a pump install at Richmond‘s water treatment plant last week went unreported for days and has prompted neighboring counties to repeat calls for a cooperative approach to water service in the region.

In statements released late Monday afternoon, Henrico and Hanover counties said they were “discouraged” and “disappointed” by what Henrico called “repeated operations failures and communications breakdowns” associated with the plant, which the city said “experienced an issue” during an installation of a new fluoride pump that increased fluoride levels over several hours last Wednesday.

Chesterfield County also acknowledged the heightened fluoride level had reached its pipes, and all of the localities said the levels never got to a point that would have made water unsafe for consumption.

Fluoride is typically added to public water systems to prevent tooth decay but can cause cosmetic dental problems for children if levels are too high. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recommends a fluoride level of 0.7 milligrams per liter and requires notice of a maximum contaminant level (MCL) of 4.0 mg/L.

“At no point did samples collected in the distribution system indicate the fluoridation level exceeded the MCL of 4.0 mg/L within the region,” the city said in its release. It said fluoride levels detected Monday were 1.6 mg/L at the system’s point of entry for Hanover, 1.19 for Henrico, 1.21 at the highest point in Chesterfield and 0.4-0.7 at the city plant.

Henrico and Hanover said they were not informed of the incident until Sunday evening – and not by the city, but first by the Virginia emergency management and health departments. The first notice from the city came about an hour later, Henrico said in its statement, referring as well to delayed reporting of a plant failure in January that resulted in a dayslong water outage across parts of the region.

“This episode, which comes on the heels of the city’s water service disruptions of January, shows once again that the region’s localities need to play a more prominent role in the delivery of drinking water to their customers,” Henrico’s statement said.

Added Hanover in its statement: “We are disappointed by the lack of timely communication from the City of Richmond, especially in light of the challenges faced during January’s water crisis. Hanover County remains committed to working with our regional partners to strengthen oversight of the water supply and to keeping our residents fully informed.”

Richmond’s release about the incident, which went out about an hour later than the counties’ Monday evening, acknowledged that plant staff did not notify state health officials of the incident as required.

“Although the Department of Public Utilities is currently in the process of creating new standard operating procedures for the Water Treatment Plant, plant staff did not notify the Virginia Department of Health within the required 24-hour period,” the city’s release said.

The release included comments from Mayor Danny Avula, who was quoted as saying that he was “disappointed with our failure to communicate.”

“This incident damages the work we’re doing to rebuild trust — not only with the residents of Richmond, but our communities, and our regional partners, including Henrico, Chesterfield, and Hanover. We must do better,” Avula said in the release.

Since the water outage in January, Avula has met with county officials to discuss potential options for a more regional approach to providing and managing water service in metro Richmond. Henrico has proposed creating a regional water authority and partnering with the city to repair or replace the aging city plant, but no formal decisions or announcements have been made.

Earlier this month, the state health department released its final report on the January outage and issued a violation notice that requires the city to implement a corrective action plan. The state’s investigation, like others before it, found that operational and procedural failures at the plant contributed to the outage, which the report said was “completely avoidable.”

An announcement from Gov. Glenn Youngkin‘s office said the state would work with Richmond to implement the action plan to make sure such a failure never happens again. In their statements on Monday, Henrico and Hanover reiterated a desire to work with the city as well.

“Henrico stands ready to partner with the city as well as Chesterfield and Hanover counties to ensure that the entire community has access to drinking water that’s reliable, safe and of the highest quality,” the county’s statement said.