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PARKERSBURG -- The Parkersburg Utility Board selected Burgess & Niple as the engineer for a $12.6 million project to install C8 filtration technology at the water treatment plant.
Members voted 4-0 to approve the recommendation of a selection committee during their regular meeting Tuesday. Mayor Tom Joyce, the board's chairman, was absent.
The installation of a granular activated carbon filtration system at the water treatment plant will be funded with money from the West Virginia Infrastructure and Jobs Development Council provided by the federal government to address contaminants like C8, also known as perfluorooctanoic acid or PFOA.
The substance was used for years in the production of Teflon at the Washington Works plant formerly owned and operated by DuPont. A class-action lawsuit over its presence in area water supplies led to the creation of a science panel that found links between C8 and half a dozen diseases in humans, including kidney and testicular cancer and thyroid disease. It was replaced in the Teflon process in 2012 by hexafluoropropylene oxide dimer acid, often referred to by the trade name GenX.
DuPont, and later its spinoff Chemours, provided filtration systems for some water utilities, but the PUB never detected levels of C8 high enough to become eligible. However, a new lifetime exposure limit of 10 parts per trillion - non-binding and non-enforceable - was recommended by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2022, and the EPA earlier this year proposed a limit of 4 parts per trillion, both of which are lower than the last test result for Parkersburg's treated water, 12 parts per trillion.
The selection committee - consisting of PUB Manager Eric Bennett, Assistant Manager/Engineer Derrick Fairbanks and board members Mike Evans and Greg Herrick - interviewed three prospective engineering firms, and Burgess & Niple received the highest score.
No price has been determined for the engineering services, with Bennett saying the staff will negotiate with the company. The agreement would have to be approved by the board before the process moves forward.
Construction is expected to start "likely early next year," Bennett said.
The PUB is using a pilot unit to determine how often the filtration media needs replaced, but the actual system will be larger. Additional property will be needed to accommodate that, and the board went into a closed, executive session during Tuesday's meeting to discuss the potential acquisition.
No decision was made, and no specifics were provided on the property.