WEIRTON — The Weirton Area Water Board and Thrasher Engineering continue their work on a preliminary engineering report aimed at the eventual replacement of cast iron and galvanized steel within Weirton’s water distribution system.

The replacement project is part of a decision passed to the Water Board by the West Virginia Public Service Commission and must be completed in the next five years.

“We have been working on that since September,” noted Jesse Alden, project manager for Thrasher, during Thursday’s Water Board meeting.

Following an investigation into last winter’s city-wide water issues, which included hundreds of water line breaks, lengthy boil orders and service outages in several areas of the community, the PSC ordered the Water Board to take on a series of corrective actions.

Among those actions are the creation of a detailed plan on the replacement of cast iron and galvanized pipe, a leak detection and repair program, achieving a water loss percentage of 15 percent or less, resolution of violations of Bureau for Public Health standards, and establishing an improved process to alert customers of boil orders and other issues.

Alden noted they are in the process of inventorying all of the water systems lines, dividing the city into 10 zones, to get a better idea of what currently is available and what is in need of replacement.

“We’re still in the process of the inventory,” Alden noted, explaining the hope is to have a scope for the project ready in February and to be able to submit the preliminary report to the PSC in June.

Utilities Director A.D. “Butch” Mastrantoni explained the project is aided through the city’s investment in recent years into an updated Geographic Information Systems program, which now includes the location of every pipe, as well as when it was installed.

“This is a huge undertaking,” Mastrantoni said. “It involves hundreds of thousands of linear feet of pipe in every ward.

While the Water Board plans on applying for funding assistance, including from the West Virginia Infrastructure and Jobs Development Council, Mastrantoni warned that, ulimately, the replacement of all those lines will end up requiring an increase in the city’s water rates.

“It’s up to the city to find a way to finance that,” he said. “It’s usually through rates.”

Mastrantoni said he plans to encourage Weirton Council to use their connections at the state and federal levels to lobby for additional funding in an effort to cut down on the impact to taxpayers.

Alden also noted this is not going to be a quick project, and will take time to get all of the designs and funding lined up.

“We’re a couple of years out before any dirt would be turned,” Alden said.