WEIRTON — The West Virginia Public Service Commission wants to make certain it is receiving regular updates on efforts by the Weirton Area Water Board to meet its orders related to upgrades on Weirton’s municipal water system.

In information released Wednesday, the PSC orders “that the Weirton Area Water Board shall file status reports every three months detailing the progress of implementation” of seven items included in its previous orders concerning the water system, with first quarterly report to be filed by Jan. 15.

Each report will “identify actions completed since the prior report, actions currently underway, anticipated next steps and any obstacles or delays affecting implementation.”

The Weirton Area Water Board has contracted with the Thrasher Group to design a preliminary engineering report on the planned replacement of cast iron and galvanized steel lines within the water distribution system.

“We have been working on that since September,” noted Jesse Alden, project manager for Thrasher, during the water board’s Dec. 11 meeting.

As part of the report, staff members are conducting an inventory of all lines within the system with a goal of developing a scope for the replacement project by February.

The preliminary report is due to the PSC in June.

It all stems from a series of outages and city-wide boil orders issued one year ago following multiple water line breaks in the city.

As a result of its investigation, the PSC issued an order in July directing the Water Board to submit an action plan to replace the cast iron and galvanized piping over the next five years; submit an action plan to define a leak detection and repair program; a plan to achieve a water loss percentage of 15 percent or less; resolve its violations of Bureau for Public Health Standards which included having water lines located at a 36-inch depth instead of the current requirements of at least 42 inches; develop a possible alternate water supply to provide an additional backup during major outages; have a process in place to provide alerts to customers by text and email messages; and the provide details on how customers may access information during major outages or crises.

The water board filed its initial plan in October.

“Several of the action plans filed by the Water Board contemplate multi-year infrastructure replacement, additional engineering analysis, acquisition of additional assets, coordination with third-party entities, and development of new operational and customer communication processes,” Wednesday’s order notes. “These efforts are inherently complex and, without continued commission oversight, may be subject to delay, modification, or incomplete execution. The commission cannot rely solely on the filing of plans where the underlying concerns involve public health, system reliability, regulatory compliance and the provision of safe and adequate water service.”

All of the projects under the order are in addition to the ongoing expansion of the water treatment plant, which would expand treatment capacity from its current 4 million gallons of water per day to 8 million gallons per day.