WEIRTON, W.Va. — The city of Weirton’s water department is ready to get dirt flying on a new main line along Walnut Street in the city. Governor Patrick Morrisey was in the city this week to announce a $3.3 Million state grant for replacement and upgrade of the aging line.
The Walnut Street line ruptured multiple times in recent years and put a severe strain on the city’s entire water system. The outages caused a water crises in the city on multiple occasions.
“The line segment has failed multiple times over the past two winters. It’s a 3500 linear foot line segment that is especially critical to Weirton’s supply throughout the city. Any break or failure results in serious disruptions,” said Butch Mastrantoni, Director of Weirton Utilities.
The past two years, breaks in the line during the coldest months of winter caused city-wide service disruptions. The line is an extremely critical link to distribute water from the plant to all areas of the city. Weirton Water has about 9,400 customers. Mastrantoni admitted they were well aware of the critical need for the line and the need to upgrade it, but there was no money.
“It comes down to funding. Absent the Governor’s money, that’s why I said it’s a God-send to get these funds and the award,” he added.
The $3.3 Million Morrisey announced will help drawdown another $1 Million from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and will give total funding of $4.3 Million do the project. Work is expected to begin as soon as possible. Mastrantoni said they want to get the work started and done before they have to endure another winter and estimated it would be a five to six month project.
The work will include replacement of the old cast iron pipe with new and modern pipe material. It will also upgrade from a 12-inch main to an 18-inch main which should give a lot more room to move the water across the city.
Although city officials were thrilled with the $4.3 Million, the estimated cost for upgrading the system city wide is in the neighborhood of $190 Million.