After a snowstorm left Richmond, Virginia without water, all eyes are on the Director of the city’s Department of Public Utilities: a diversity, equity, and inclusion proponent who has overseen the dilapidation of the city’s water infrastructure.
April Bingham was named Richmond’s utilities chief by former Democrat Mayor Levar Stoney in December 2021, after 1 year and 11 months as deputy director of the department’s customer service division. Since taking the post, Bingham has dedicated herself to advancing the DEI agenda and is a member of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee for the Virginia branch of the American Water Works Association (AWWA), a professional organization for water management officials.
While Bingham has dedicated herself to advancing the DEI agenda, Richmond’s water facilities appear to have fallen into a state of disrepair. Under Bingham, The Environmental Protection Agency cited Richmond in 2022 for various violations, including insufficient maintenance, corroded pumps, cracked filters, and perhaps worst of all, outdated emergency response plans.
Bingham refused to say whether or not those issues contributed to the ongoing water crisis, which began Monday after a winter storm knocked out the power at a Richmond power plant. Mayor Danny Avula, who was sworn in on December 31st, was unable to say whether the Department of Public Utilities had taken all preventive measures to avoid the crisis.
But the head of the Virginia Office of Drinking Water, Dwyane Roadcap, explained that some regulations appear to have been flouted.
“I can cite some regulations where we’ve got noncompliance with the regulations. That’s part of the reason why we’re out there. It’s part of the reason we’ve got a boil water advisory. It’s part of the reason why there’s no water pressure or insufficient water pressure,” Roadcap charged. “One of the things that we’re looking into is why the fail-safe systems and the redundant systems didn’t work, because you shouldn’t have this kind of problem.”