Now for Something Completely Different
I bring you my Water Nightmare
It’s been a week, y’all.
First of all — prayers up for all the folks in Southern California who are enduring massive suffering and loss. Your pain is visceral and deep, way beyond anything that could be classified as an inconvenience. May your community’s path to healing come swiftly.
Second — buried under the terrible news out of California, former President Carter’s funeral, and Trump threatening to take over Greenland — my city, Richmond, the capital city of Virginia, had a city-wide water outage starting Monday afternoon.
Allow me to tell the tale.
Over the weekend, Winter Storm Blair was heading right for us, with the possibility of a foot of snow. Richmond was on the rain/snow line, so we weren’t sure if it was going to be an all-snow or mixed event. Turned out to be snow - ice - rain - back to snow, leaving a slushy mess and a glaze of ice on the trees.
By Monday afternoon the roads were mostly fine, so I figured this wintry situation was nearly over. Little did I know it was only the beginning.
As I got into the shower around 4pm on Monday, I noticed that the water pressure was low. When I got out of the shower, The Man informed me that he just saw on Reddit that we were under a “Boil Water Advisory” in Richmond.
I started panicking because I had just showered in germ water. In case I haven’t told you, I’m a bit of a germophobe/clean freak.1
It went downhill from there.
Our water pressure dwindled throughout the evening, so we made a dinner that didn’t require rinsing anything.
We don’t keep bottled water in the house2, and the roads were icing over after dark. Thank god we had some year-old bottled water in our trunk that my mom left behind so we could brush our teeth.
I was also still trying to figure out what a “boil advisory” meant. How long should we boil the water for?3 Could we wash our hands with the tap water? Wash dishes?4
By 9pm our water pressure was down to a trickle and our toilets were no longer refilling.
When we woke up Tuesday morning the only thing coming out of our pipes was air.
That’s when my freakout truly began.
Dishes piling up. Old disgusting sauces drying out and cementing themselves to the plates in the sink. Our meager bottled water supply depleting.
Our new mayor — poor guy had literally been on the job for six days — gave a press conference Tuesday morning detailing what happened.
It seems there was a power outage at the plant early Monday morning, and the back up batteries for the water pumps only lasted for an hour. But the power outage lasted for two hours, and the pump room flooded.
I think this incident also had a lot to do with our former mayor being notoriously corrupt, with a penchant for handing money and jobs out to cronies — and trying to get a casino built here instead of investing in our infrastructure.
Turns out our Department of Public Utilities was cited by the EPA in 2022 for corroding pumps and other out of date equipment that needed to be replaced. Our main water treatment plant is 100 years old.
The cherry on top is the director of our public water system — appointed by the corrupt former mayor — who does not have an engineering background, as most people in these crucial positions have. Her background is in customer service.
Her dismissive performance at the press conference showed me that she’s not great at customer service, either.
Our new mayor said that the pumps had been repaired, the city was working to get pressure back up, and that water should be flowing in “several” hours.
My fingers and butt cheeks were crossed.
By Tuesday afternoon I had to go to the bathroom. I was praying that the half full toilet tank would be enough to flush.
It wasn’t. Now my bathroom was an outhouse.
My inner Princess Germophobe Clean Freak was SCREAMING.
So I turned to the only thing I had — a pitcher and the snow.
Now I was filling my toilet tank with snow and waiting for it to melt, assisting with a few tea lights. I melted some ice from our freezer in a tea kettle. I also found a stray wine bottle with some water in it during a desperate search.5
I was finally able to remedy the situation and flush my toilet after several trips to collect snow.
It’s crazy how little water is actually in snow once it melts.
My sympathy for 19th century people was increasing.
Because there had been no further updates from the mayor, people were turning to Reddit for information — just to see if the water was on anywhere in the city.
Nope. A few people south of the James River reported a trickle.
As the 7 o’clock hour approached, I started suspecting that the water wasn’t coming back on Tuesday night.
That’s when I saw the mayor reporting another setback with an electric panel that shorted out.
The problem was also expanding to counties surrounding Richmond who draw on our water supply.
They were using porta potties at Richmond International Airport.
God help us.
Tuesday night we had frozen mozzarella sticks, tater tots, and queso for dinner.
We officially ran out of plates.
I collected more snow and put it in the toilet tanks.
The Man found a case of bottled water at a convenience store and was the Hero of the Day.
I desperately tried to ignore the disgusting mess in my kitchen and willed myself to pretend that our bathrooms weren’t a disaster zone.
I went to bed early hoping we would have running water in the morning.
Wednesday dawns. Still no water. Can’t go to work. Trying hard to ignore the kitchen and be grateful we don’t have to brush our teeth with Fruit 2-O.
I learn on Reddit that Henrico County has a water distribution point about 10 minutes from our apartment. We decide to take a wine box full of empty bottles to get some water so we can flush and scrape gunk off our plates — and maybe grab another case of bottled water to drink and brush our teeth.
The line to get into the Henrico Government Center was several blocks long. The Man was on an hour and a half break6 so we thought we had enough time.
The weight on my chest was lifting as I imagined ridding my kitchen sink of the trash dump it had become.
We sat in the line of cars for over an hour. There were of course a-holes cutting in line.
It was eerily reminiscent of waiting to get our COVID vaccines at Richmond International Raceway.
As we neared the turn into the government center, The Man texted his boss that he might be a few minutes late to his next walk because we were trying to get water.
It seemed like the line slowed as we turned into the government center. There were now two lines — one to get your containers filled at the tanker, and a bottled water distribution point. There was no line to get bottled water.
We kept waiting in the tanker line, and The Man started to worry about the time. Reluctantly, I agreed that we should leave, despite being so close to our oasis.
The Henrico County PD put two cases of bottled water in our backseat for us on the way out.
I wanted to cry.
We got home around 3. The Man left for his walk, and I decided to start dealing with the kitchen disaster using bottled water since we had no more plates.
As I put on a pair of gloves and got my Yacht Rock playlist ready, I heard a hissing sound from the bathroom.
Praise Jesus. The toilet tank was beginning to fill up.
With the new trickle of water from the sink, I filled our toilet tanks enough to flush, reserving one more pitcher just in case the spring dried up.
The water pressure kept increasing. Now I had something to boil under this “boil advisory.”
I got busy filling a pot.
Boiling and cooling the pots of water took about an hour. I got a sort of assembly line going.
It shocked me how long the whole process took. And all I had to do was fill up a pot and boil it on my stove — not drag a cast iron pot to and from a well and hang it over an open flame on a hearth.
I was joking with The Bestie via text and she told me to find a rock to do my laundry on.
Through my laughter, my respect for 19th century women increased.
I also really understood for the first time why women didn’t work outside the home before modern appliances.
Washing two days worth of dishes took me six hours.
Luckily I had a baked penne in the freezer and a bottle of Etna Rosso in the wine rack.
I boiled a fresh supply of water before bed so we could wash our hands and dishes in the morning.
I slept like a rock Wednesday night due to massively decreased anxiety.
Thursday dawned with a boil advisory, a humid apartment, and flushable toilets.
Our new mayor is impressing the city and giving us hope for a better managed future where stupid shit like this doesn’t happen.
I’ve gotten pretty good at the boiling water assembly line.
Despite losing a week of work at the shop, it’s been a good day.
We’re hoping that the boil order will be lifted this weekend — just in time for more snow.
Personally, I hope the most exciting thing that happens on Saturday is the NFL playoffs. I’ll have a few pitchers of water on standby just in case.
Thanks for listening today, readers. I’ll have some cheesy goodness for you next week — and I’m working on a piece about my absolute favorite — Alpine cheese.
Here is your pic of Mr. Kitty in his new favorite spot, contemplating a snowy sunset
I’ve been feeding the birds on the railing. Who knew a few handfuls of bird seed would contribute so much to his kitty happiness?
Now he gets up in the morning at sunrise to watch the birds. No more morning snuggles for me.
Curd Culture is a reader supported publication. Thank you for supporting my dream of using my cheese experience to make a difference on two issues I care about: sustainable family farming and animal welfare.
Two decades in food service, a bit of OCD, and a Cleaning Nazi mother were a perfect storm to make me this way. I know it’s stupid, but I can’t help it.
We have a Zero Water filter in our fridge, useless because it filters tap water.
3 minutes
No to both
I use them to water plants.
He’s a dog walker
I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed you light hearted tale of a really awful few days. You took my mind off of all the other crap happening currently. I know that cheese is your passion, but you are a great story teller. Thanks. 🫶🏼✌🏻
I'm sorry you lived through no water. Coincidentally, the water in our condo is now not flowing either. I sure hope it doesn't take us a week to get water back. I do enjoy your writing though, even if it's talking about traumatic things.