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The release of the after action reports from three localities last week led to a plethora of information to chew, swallow, and digest this week. You can read Part 1 about some of the initial findings in the city’s preliminary after action report released last Thursday, and Part 2 looks at some curious answers from the Mayor at a press conference last Friday. Today looks at the possibility of a regional water solution that will be a front and center topic throughout this year.
There is no record that Albert Einstein ever visited Richmond, but surely he was thinking about us when credited with the phrase, 'In the midst of every crisis, lies great opportunity' (see endnote).
That would certainly be good advice for the Richmond region in the aftermath of the city's water crisis. The years of neglect and proper staffing and training that led to the city’s water plant failure could ironically be the spark that creates a regional authority that can modernize and update water delivery to withstand any incident, storm or adverse situation. Water is the most essential resource necessary for both life and commerce and not being able to supply it for a week in the 21st century is simply unacceptable.
That is why the crisis has reignited talk about creating such an authority for the first time in 30+ years. The scary and unforced error last month has provided an example of the future if something is not done to remedy the situation. Richmond should not and can not be added to the list of names like Flint, Michigan and Jackson, Mississippi, where those cities not only failed their residents health and safety, but cost untold millions to fix (and are still fixing) because they simply neglected to do the basic tasks correctly.
Which is why it's good that a month after our crisis, there is widespread agreement among officials who are open to the discussion about what the region can do to reliably provide water to everyone. Mayor Avula said last week, “All of us, I think, are in agreement that having the conversation and trying to figure out whether we can make regional investments together and ultimately end up with a more sustainable system is where we’d like to be,” he said.
Henrico County Manager John Vithoulkas told supervisors that there are options to consider: “We have a generational opportunity to do something, this board does, with the resources that you have, because of the crisis that you are confronted with,” he told the Board of Supervisors last week. “I think there is a yearning for stability in our region when it comes to something basic like the provision of water services.”
The Times-Dispatch Editorial Board wrote on January 12th, the day after the crisis ended, there was a solution, “one that has been discussed, analyzed and contemplated for decades. It’s a solution that would bring the city’s regional partners to the table, and give each an equal say in the delivery of our most basic human requirement. It’s a solution that has historically garnered widespread support within the business community, and has a long track record of success — a regional water authority.”
There are numerous such multi-jurisdictional authorities across the state like the Appomattox River Water Authority and the Western Virginia Water Authority (Roanoke area). The editorial continues: “A regional authority managed and funded by multiple jurisdictions would have more resources to ensure critical redundancies are in place, improve coordination and communication among municipalities, and consolidate operations to become more efficient.”
It’s hard to argue with that.
Regionalism gets a bad rap in Richmond for various reasons, but it shouldn’t; some of the most successful entities in the area are regional organizations.
Our region boasts an exceptionally well run airport that is generally chaos-free and
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