RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) - Pages packed with violations are now uncovered in a 2022 Environmental Protection Agency inspection report about Richmond’s drinking water distribution system.

It’s a snapshot of how the system works and what inspectors say must be fixed.

The report exposes things like vegetation growing in a raw water channel line, cracked concrete at plant 2, which allows debris into a water filter, and plenty of pictures showing corrosion in many places inside plant 1.

12 On Your Side asking Richmond Mayor Danny Avula about the head of the city’s department of public utilities and his confidence in her during a news conference Thursday.

“I’ve been absolutely impressed with April’s attentiveness and response. Again, I’m a week into this job, just getting to know everybody, know the operation,” said Dr. Danny Avula, City of Richmond Mayor.

April Bingham is the head of DPU in Richmond.

She and that department were already embroiled in customer service and billing issues.

The mayor says city employees would be held accountable at the end of the day.

“That’s the job, right? We need to make sure we’ve got the right protocols in place, the right people in place, the right systems in place,” said Mayor Avula.

EPA inspectors announced their visit in 2022 about a month ahead of time, according to the 114-page report.

They spent two days on the ground asking questions, documenting problems and demanding a plan to correct all those issues.

Also on the ground with them is the director of VDH’s Office of Drinking Water.

“One of the observations is we’re dealing with a very aged water system. One portion was built in 1924 the other portion is built in 1950 and you can see the age of the system,” said Dwayne Roadcap, VDH Office of Drinking Water Director.

Another reported issue is the Byrd Park reservoir, where water is stored.

The roof over the storage space shows leaks and other issues that must be addressed.

“This should not have happened, and we’re going to make every effort to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” said Roadcap.

The DPU director responded to that 2022 report on Jan. 3 , just a few days before the crisis.

She claims redundancy is a key feature of their system and also laid out some corrective actions to be taken.