Water, sewer extension to Fort Boreman underway

Agreement on C8 filtration pilot effort approved

PARKERSBURG -- Construction on the Fort Boreman water and sewer extension began Tuesday.

Dunlap Contracting LLC of Waverly started the installation of approximately 4,700 lineal feet of sewer line by digging into Summers Street at Camden Avenue to make a connection for the new sanitary sewer line to the rest of the system.

The project, which will also include 3,000 feet of new water line, was requested by the PM Company to facilitate development of its 180-acre property atop Fort Boreman Hill. It's being funded with a $1.5 million state grant from the Governor's Closing Fund and $200,000 apiece in American Rescue Plan Act allocations from the City of Parkersburg and Wood County.

The company has said it will donate 49 acres to the city and county for a potential youth sports complex.

The extension is a project of the Parkersburg Utility Board, which, during its regular meeting Tuesday, voted 5-0 to approve a $126,065.68 payment to Dunlap for stored materials for the project. PUB Manager Eric Bennett said the company is contracted to complete the project in 180 days.

In other business Tuesday, the board unanimously approved an agreement for a pilot study of a granular activated carbon filtration system to remove chemicals like C8 from its water. C8 is part of a group of compounds known as "forever chemicals" because of how long they take to break down that were designated as hazardous materials in August by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

C8 was used for decades in the Teflon-manufacturing process at DuPont's Washington Works plant, now owned by Chemours. It's been found in area water supplies but Parkersburg's never reached levels that triggered the installation of a filtration system by DuPont or Chemours. However, a new, nonbinding lifetime drinking water advisory was set last June at 0.004 parts per trillion. Levels of C8 in treated PUB water have been detected between 12 and 55 parts per trillion, depending on how much water is drawn from well 1.

Using a smaller system to determine how often the filter media needs to be changed is the first step toward a $12.6 million project to install a filtration system. It's expected to go out to bid next year. On Tuesday, Bennett said two board members need to volunteer for a subcommittee to interview the three companies who submitted engineering proposals for the project.

The PUB also unanimously approved a change order covering multiple aspects of the ongoing water treatment plant backwash basin and south reservoir rehabilitation.

The change order adds $91,531.17 to the project's $2.83 million cost, Bennett said, with the largest single amount, $39,253.25, to cover repairs of approximately 650 lineal feet of cracks in the floor slab of the reservoir. Full membrane coverage of the floor was considered, but the price came in at more than half a million dollars, he said.

The additional time on the contract is due in part to an authorized winter shutdown of work "because of lack of materials and the weather," Bennett said.