The night of August 14 led to a nightmare situation for Staunton Public Works but a dream come true with community response throughout the weekend.
The city’s review of the incident and emergency planning will continue.
“It would be great if we could predict breaks like this. We can’t. In retrospect, I am placing the probable time of the actual break at about 8:35 p.m. Thursday night [August 14],” Staunton Director of Public Works Dave Irvin said Thursday night to Staunton City Council.
Irvin said data from the city’s water plant from the evening began with normal results, however, lights do not flash and sirens do not sound when a city’s water system experiences an emergency.
“Fortunately for us, there was a very observant citizen living on Stockard Street. They were the first ones to call. They did not call Public Works. They went straight to dispatch [at 8:48 p.m.],” Irvin said. Staunton Fire Department immediately responded, discovered the situation and notified Public Works at 8:57 p.m.
A water pipe 16 inches in diameter, one of the two largest-sized main pipes in the city’s water system, was spewing water and created a body of water “where none had prior existed,” according to Irvin.
Public Works staff worked to determine which of the two main pipes were leaking.
“So, this was a major event,” Irvin said.
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Back at the city’s water treatment plant, water was released within an hour at a rate of 16 million gallons of water per day. An average day in Staunton sees only 4 million gallons of water used.
“And even at this time of night, on a Thursday night, it’s probably closer to 3.5 million gallons at that point. So, considerable amount of flow,” Irvin said.
In the early morning hours of Friday, August 15, Irvin said that he and other Public Works staff began making phone calls about the situation to Augusta County and to Staunton schools.
The Virginia Department of Health was notified within 40 minutes of Public Works becoming aware of the water main break per a state law which went into effect July 1, 2025 that municipalities must notify the department of all water main breaks within two hours. State laws mandate that municipalities must keep city water systems pressurized at 20 PSI. The pressure of the system and water storage tanks provide a buffer in the event of a water main break so that a Boil Water Advisory is not always necessary.
However, the pressure in Staunton‘s water system dropped too low and required an advisory by Friday morning for all residents.
“In this particular case, it was very agonizing in the early morning hours Friday morning to sit and watch our SCADA system knowing the guys were out there fighting the good fight. I saw our discharge from the plant drop from 16 million gallons a day to 13 million gallons a day to 11 million gallons a day to 9 million gallons a day,” Irvin said.
Discharge stalled at 9 million gallons and Irvin knew the situation was leading to a Boil Water Advisory.
By early Friday morning, Public Works staff had repaired the broken water main pipe on Stockard Street and a city-wide Boil Water Advisory notice was issued. The water pressure was beginning to resume since the repair and testing of the city’s water began at intervals as city staff set up emergency water distribution sites at Bessie Weller Elementary School, Staunton High School and Gypsy Hill Park.
“With this, what I have to mention is the community’s support. What a great community we live in. And it’s not just the 25,000 citizens here in Staunton, it’s those beyond,” Irvin said. Help came from Weyers Cave and Mount Crawford, and local students volunteered to hand out water.
Quantities of water distribution were not actually limited at the emergency sites.
By Saturday morning, all residents and businesses had water, but boiling the water for drinking was necessary. Testing continued until Monday morning when 40 samples of water revealed clear results and no bacteria. The Boil Water Advisory was lifted at 10:35 a.m. on August 17.
“At no time did we find any indication of any contamination,” Irvin said.
Sixteen water valves were closed with 600 valve key turns during the weekend. More than 140 city employees and community members distributed 115,200 water bottles, 4,896 gallon jugs and 16,224 cans.
After 41 Boil Water Advisory messages were sent across six platforms in four days, Irvin said that 854 new subscribers joined the Staunton Alert Message system.
“We want everybody to subscribe,” Irvin said. Now approximately 3,500 are subscribed to the alert message system.
The Boil Water Advisory was lifted approximately 86 hours after the water main break.
ICYMI: Boil Water Advisory review
In the early 1990s, according to Irvin, the city began an annual waterline replacement program. In 2025, water lines are scheduled to be replaced on Paige, Pierce, Wayne, West and North Madison streets.
“In no one’s memory at Public Works has a Boil Water Advisory [in Staunton] ever been issued, and that includes over 30-something years,” Irvin said.
The most recent similar event to what happened that August weekend was in 2007 and was called the “Cherry Hill” incident. Irvin was made aware of it when he joined the department in 2010 because it had been so significant for the city. A 16-inch transmission main pipe broke and it took city staff more than 12 hours to turn off the city’s water system.
“Water loss [in 2007], I don’t really have numbers to compare, but I imagine it was similar to this event,” Irvin said.
In the years since, VDH has tightened regulations to protect public health and safety and the environment.
While much of the city’s response to the situation was efficient and timely with a focus on public health and safety, Irvin said some lessons were learned to improve response next time.
Public Works found that only two employees were trained to venture out and take water samples, so going forward all water treatment employees will be trained. Irvin said that training began on August 15 during the water emergency.
Sampling sites were only available at fire hydrants because pre-designated sampling stations were businesses that were closed in the early morning hours. The city will consider adding sampling stations throughout the city, which will reduce sampling time in the future.
The city will be able to improve GIS utilities layers, and has learned of more state agencies who can provide support in the event of a water emergency.
“It’s not over now. We will go forward and have some action plan activities,” Irvin said. One activity will be the development of a pre-registered database.
Irvin said the importance of expanding the subscriber base of the Staunton Alert Message was realized by the water emergency.
Council member Jeff Overholtzer asked about the cause of the water main break.
Irvin said the cause of a majority of water main breaks is unknown, including the one Staunton sustained in August. The life expectancy of cast iron pipes like the one that broke in August and in 2007 is 100 years. The water main pipe on Stockard Street was installed in the 1940s.
Vice Mayor Brad Arrowood asked about the city’s alert notification options, and Irvin said that city staff is exploring more options.
Staunton Mayor Michele Edwards said that while a difficult situation, a lot of good came out of the water main break with community response and lessons learned.
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Rebecca Barnabi
