A water treatment plant failure threw North America’s oldest legislative body into crisis this week, as lawmakers were effectively locked out of the Virginia State Capitol for security reasons.
In the rest of Richmond, residents faced a lack of water, and hospitals had to deploy tankers to provide the water needed not only to extinguish patients, but also to heat and disinfect medical equipment, said a state lawmaker.
The right-wing group Virginia Project said the crisis could be the reason for the Legislature to take an immediate interest in infrastructure financing, before making a Confederate-era suggestion:
“Maybe the Waterless Legislature should retreat to Appomattox,” said a social media post from the group, referring to the community about 100 miles southwest of the Capitol: where the Richmond-based Confederate States of America surrendered in April 1865 to the Union.
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Richmond, Virginia and the Virginia State Capitol (Getty)
Others, like Richard Anderson, chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia, laid the blame on the recently departed Democratic mayor, who is now running for lieutenant governor.
“(The crisis is) a direct result of the inept leadership of former Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney – who presided over his city’s crumbling infrastructure,” Anderson said.
“Stoney as LG? Never.”
The crisis struck less than a week after the current Democratic mayor, Dr. Danny Avula, took office.
Avula, formerly a pediatrician at Chippenham Hospital in neighboring Chesterfield County, said he has been hands-on since the water system first failed.
Avula said he spent much of Tuesday evening at the city plant and announced Wednesday morning that some pumps are coming back online.
“We’re starting to see the reservoir level filling up. It’s really encouraging. Right now, for some context, the reservoir level is at 7.5 feet. (Our) reservoirs typically run at about 60 feet.”
Avula’s work earned him rave reviews, including from a prominent Republican.
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Drivers are welcome in Virginia, just off Lee Highway in Arlington. (Getty)
Sen. Mark Obenshain of Harrisonburg, chairman of the Senate GOP Caucus, said he has never seen a legislative session start in such chaos in his 21 years in the Capitol.
“Kudos to the new mayor for his tireless efforts to resolve this hereditary crisis,” he said on X, formerly Twitter.
Senate Minority Leader Ryan McDougle, R-Hanover, told Fox News Digital that the water outage had a doubly impact on his work, as both the Capitol and his district office in nearby Mechanicsville both felt the impact.
McDougle said the reach of the outage has exceeded Richmond’s borders and reached Henrico and Hanover counties to the north and east. Voters have asked his office for help.
McDougle praised Gov. Glenn Youngkin for being “extremely aggressive in his efforts to find solutions to the problem that has arisen in the city,” and offered the same to officials in suburban counties.
“(We) are trying to ensure that we get water to infrastructure like hospitals so that they can continue to treat patients and make water available to citizens so that they can take care of their families.
“But this was a real effort on behalf of state government and local jurisdictions trying to help Richmond.”
He said Avula deserves no blame for the crisis as he only took office a few days ago.
“It’s unfortunate that this had to be in his first week,” McDougle said.
“But we really need to investigate and get to the bottom of how (the Stoney administration) could have allowed this to become such an acute problem that would affect so many people.”
Schools in McDougle’s district were closed Wednesday and the Legislature adjourned until Monday — after concerns from leaders and staff that the fire suppression system at the iconic Capitol could fail without adequate water flow.
McDougle noted that it is wise to err on the side of caution, but that Virginia’s position as the oldest contiguous legislature clearly predated its utilities, and that the people’s work can and should be done in any way as long as the Capitol is not in good order is.
Another state lawmaker blamed Richmond’s longtime Democratic leadership.
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Recently departed Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney speaks about infrastructure alongside Del. Eleanor Holmes-Norton, D-DC, and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-CA.
Del. Wren Williams, R-Stuart, said Richmond is a city “plagued by systemic neglect and a lack of accountability.”
“Now Stoney wants to be the next Lieutenant Governor of our Commonwealth. Despite the city’s growing infrastructure needs, Richmond Democrats allowed critical problems like water contamination and aging pipes to fester, leaving residents vulnerable to unsafe drinking water and deteriorating public health,” Williams said. .
He previously proposed a bill that would have allowed state agencies to study utility upgrades and provide technical support.
With Democrats in marginal control of the Legislature and hoping to prevent Youngkin’s deputy Winsome Sears from succeeding him in November, Williams said the crisis is emblematic of Democrats’ “larger failure… in Virginia, where promises of progress and equality often ring hollow when the real work of maintaining essential services is neglected.”
Richmond entrepreneur Jimmy Keady echoed Williams, telling Fox News Digital that the crisis is not just a failure of infrastructure, but of the city’s past leadership:
“Businesses have been forced to close for almost 48 hours. Residents were left without clean water and hourly workers lost wages,” Keady said.
“The political implications are just as serious,” added Keady, who is also a political consultant.
Noting that the Virginia Legislature has only been in session for a few months, he referred to how lawmakers must explicitly pass resolutions to extend business beyond a term’s end date.
“By losing nearly 11% of this short session, Virginia lawmakers are losing valuable time to pass legislation that will address growing problems across our Commonwealth, such as economic growth, rising medical costs and – yes – the aging infrastructure.”
Richmond’s water supply is primarily provided by the James River.
Fox News Digital reached out to Stoney’s campaign and House Speaker Don Scott Jr., D-Portsmouth. Avula could not be reached.
In his remarks late Wednesday, Youngkin praised public and private partners in the Capital Region who have helped residents cope with the lack of water, from Avula to companies like Amazon and Publix.
“The collaboration of the surrounding counties with the city of Richmond and state resources was truly inspiring. Hanover, Henrico and Chesterfield counties brought not only their emergency management expertise, but their resources as well.”
“They all mobilized fire pumpers to ensure that if there was a fire emergency and there was no water available in the city, the city could actually respond to those urgencies very quickly.”
