Bingham Out After Richmond Water Crisis, City Announces Interim DPU Director

On January 16, 2025By Littum

RICHMOND, Va. – Days after the Richmond water crisis left thousands in the Richmond region without water, the city announced an interim director of the Department of Public Utilities.

Anthony “Scott” Morris takes over the reins from outgoing DPU Director April Bingham.

Bingham resigned Jan. 15, the city announced.

CBS 6 has previously raised questions about Bingham blaming the water crisis solely on a winter storm power outage at the water treatment plant in Richmond.

“I believe this incident here was simply caused by a breakdown at the plant,” Bingham said during a news conference Wednesday after Monday’s outage.

Additionally, when the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cited Richmond’s Department of Public Utilities (DPU) with dozens of troubling findings about its water system, it took Bingham more than two years to issue a response detailing how the city would address them.

CBS 6 asked Bingham last Wednesday if any of the concerns identified by the EPA affected the Jan. 6 water crisis at the facility, and she insisted there was no connection.

Although the inspection took place in July 2022, Bingham did not respond to the EPA’s findings until January 3, 2025—just three days before a power outage at the water treatment plant and failing backup systems triggered a citywide water shutoff and regional boil advisories.

Watch: Video gives shocking insight into flooded Richmond Water Treatment Plant

Video gives shocking insight into flooded Richmond Water Treatment Plant

In his response, Bingham highlighted the scale and complexity of the facility, but added: “Redundancy is a key feature of our system that ensures critical services remain uninterrupted despite the temporary unavailability of certain assets.”

But redundancy did not keep critical services operating last week.

Bingham’s letter also stated that DPU “strictly tracks preventive and corrective maintenance activities.”

Who is Scott Morris?

Morris, an engineer and director of water for the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, touted his history working in various water service roles, including previously operating Richmond’s wastewater plant.

“I am excited to return to Richmond to lead the Department of Public Utilities,” Morris said. “As the city continues to recover from the recent plant water outage, I look forward to working with the team to support the delivery of essential utility services to Richmonders.”

Morris, a Navy veteran, also worked as water director at the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and at the Chesterfield County Utilities Department.

This is a development story. Email the CBS 6 Newsroom if you have additional information to share.

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