Panicked residents criticize Richmond mayor as water is shut off across Virginia city: ‘Not a drop to drink!’

Residents in Richmond, Virginia are desperate for water after a power outage caused by snow and ice hit the city’s main building.

The city immediately went under a boil water advisory on the afternoon of January 6 after approximately 230,000 people reported experiencing very low water pressure.

The Ministry of Public Utilities asked those affected to boil water before consuming it – despite no water coming from the taps.

While the city managed to restore production earlier today, Richmond locals are advised to continue boiling their water and conserve water as pressure builds again.

The advisory is expected to last approximately 48 hours due to required testing.

“I’ve spent the last five hours with our teams at the water plant as they make steady progress restoring our city’s water supply. I am hopeful that we will have more to share soon, and I appreciate your continued patience,” said Mayor Danny Avula.

However, the sudden loss of water for more than a day has left many residents frustrated as they frantically buy bottled water in bulk – if they can find it.

“Hello from Richmond, Virginia where my entire area currently has no running water, happy polar vortex to everyone celebrating,” one X user said sarcastically.

‘Richmond, Virginia sent an advisory to only drink water when it has been boiled. The funny thing is that I always go home and drink water from the sink. So if the message comes too late… that explains why I’ve been feeling weird for days and I only saw this now,” another concerned resident revealed.

While someone wanted to know, “It’s 2025 and the entire city of Richmond, Virginia is without water. WTF??? Where are all those rich people when something like this happens?’

“Richmond has had no water for over 24 hours and people still aren’t going for the Dasani,” another joked, sharing a photo of a nearly empty water aisle at the supermarket.

‘Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink! We are six days into 2025 and there is no water coming out of the taps in Richmond, VA, a water main break has flooded parts of downtown Bethesda, MD, the aquifer in Cape Coral, FL, is critically low… Is this thing going on? ? Bueller? Bueller?,” tweeted a furious X user.

Shockingly, one said: “I’m from Richmond Va where everyone finds out the water system is broken on Reddit hours before the city makes a statement

“If you listen closely, you can hear the sound of every journalist in Richmond filing FOIA requests to see when the city first heard about the water problem and how long it took them to tell the public,” added one other to it.

A local resident also shared a photo of a sign in their local supermarket and an empty vending machine with the caption: ‘All is well in Richmond. I just need to boil the water (I don’t have any water)’.

Some residents have also shared videos of how they store water, with many filling their bathtubs.

A Virginia-based TikToker passing by @marygracerotter_ shared fragments of overflowing jugs, bottles and jars in her refrigerator.

TikToker @aalyhsia also showed her followers that her local store was out of water bottles, and shared how to find some.

Mayor Avula had previously said the city was working to get water supplies to vulnerable populations, such as shelters, hospitals and senior centers.

When asked why his office had not informed locals about what had happened earlier in time so they could prepare, he said: “We really tried to get things going yesterday so that we could fully implement the boil water advisory.” to avoid.

“I’m sorry we couldn’t provide a little more buffer.”

According to a city spokesperson, the power outage, caused by an icy storm, led to problems with the plant’s uninterrupted power supply.

This led to flooding in the filter gallery, crucial for the water purification process.