Excerpt from the article:

RICHMOND, Va. — As the city has revealed limited information about what caused the third significant issue to impact its drinking water system within a matter of months, records reviewed by CBS 6 could shed light on the problems at Richmond’s Water Treatment Plant leading up to the current boil water advisory.

An apparent maintenance request dated May 12 showed that plate settlers, a type of sediment filter at the plant, were noted as needing be cleaned to “remove alum sludge.”

The maintenance request stated cleaning the plates could “prolong the use” of the sedimentation basins “with increased flow going throughout” and indicated that the plates may have been “clogged.”

…

The work order was updated with an action item that stated an employee requested on May 14 for plate settlers to be “thoroughly washed and cleaned” but they were “informed by operations this was not a good time” and it would need to be done at a later date.

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