RICHMOND, Va. — As many in the city of Richmond entered their third day without running water, new Richmond Mayor Danny Avula began his Wednesday morning update briefing with “some good news.”
“We actually have pumps that are up and running, filters that have come online. We have two of the eight pumps in the facility that are actively running, actively pumping out into distribution, five total pumps that are online and ready to kick in at some point today,” he said. “So right now, we have over 45 million gallons per day (MGD) of water that is pumping out into distribution and that is actively filling up our reservoir. It started the night when I left around 11:30 we’re about nine million gallons per day (MGD). So we’ve made some really significant progress over the last eight hours or so.”
The mayor went on to discuss what this means for people living without and very limited water.
Richmond Water Crisis: ‘Some good news’ to report Wednesday morning
“People are probably seeing a return not to full pressure, but partial pressure. We know that there are parts of the city already, as water has been pumping in, into distribution since last night, that have had a return of some water function,” he said. “We really need to continue to press the message of conservation, because I know that as people have woken up this morning, have turned on showers, have turned off faucets, there’s probably a sense of urgency to get out there and to take it or to get take a shower, to wash your dishes, to do the things that we all want to do. And I would just ask that we continue to make wise and thoughtful decisions until our reservoir gets to where it needs to be again. Right now, that reservoir height is at seven feet. If there’s tons of utilization that’s going to drop down. We really want people to conserve wisely. With 45 million gallons a day, we should see some steady increases during the day and hopefully get over about the 10 foot mark, which would be a good marker for us.”