Parkersburg Utility Board approves last payment on wastewater plant upgrade
PARKERSBURG — The Parkersburg Utility Board on Wednesday approved the final payment on the $12.8 million wastewater treatment plant project that began in the fall of 2014.
The board voted 4-0 — one short of its full membership after the passing of member Edward Glasser earlier this month — to approve the $61,580.35 payment during its regular meeting, PUB Manager Eric Bennett said.
By the same margin, they also OK’d drawing down $355,670.16 from the West Virginia Infrastructure and Jobs Council loan that is funding the project. That amount will cover the latest payment and other expenses.
The project included replacing aging rotating biological contactors with an additional secondary clarifier and aerobic digester and installing new mixing equipment in the primary digesters to make them more efficient. It’s part of an effort to meet federal Environmental Protection Agency mandates to eliminate overflows from the sanitary sewer system into rivers during wet weather.
Wednesday’s payment brings the total amount rendered to contractor Orders Construction Co. of St. Albans to $10,677,334.01. The total project cost, which includes engineering services by Strand Associates, is slightly under the original budget, but the utility expects to use most of the money since the loan and customer sewer rates are already set up for the full amount.
“We’re using some of that money to do other things,” Bennett said.
The board already approved spending more than $250,000 in project contingency funds to install new sluice gates in three lines where the utility’s system goes through the floodwall, as well as upgrade radio equipment relaying data from outlying facilities to treatment plants.
Another $31,573 was reallocated to replace the roof on a structure that deteriorated due to exposure to sulfides from sludge over the years.
On Wednesday, the board voted 4-0 to use approximately $44,000 in project funds to upgrade a boiler, Bennett said.
Although the payment approved Wednesday is the last for the project itself, there will be at least one more draw down for the other expenses, he said.