Wastewater treatment plant expansion approaching finish line
Trending
WEIRTON -- The Weirton Sanitary Board continues to move closer to completion of upgrades to the wastewater treatment plant.
During Thursday’s meeting, Jesse Alden, project manager from the Thrasher Group, announced the $28,572,670.37 project, being performed by Triton Construction, stands at 99.9% completion based on the expenditure of the contract.
Funding for on-site inspections has been fully expensed, with spot inspections being performed as needed, and regular monthly progress meetings have not been held for two months.
"We’re going to keep them on the calendar, but we’re playing those by ear as we move forward," Alden said. "We are getting very close to finalizing the project."
The treatment plant project, designed to expand capacity from 4 million gallons per day to 8 million gallons per day, broke ground in April 2024.
"We issued substantial completion on April 16," Alden reminded the board, noting a handful of items remain.
The contingency fund, which began at $1.86 million, now stands at $320,980.19, with contractors and staff determining if any other work is needed to ensure all of the project funds are spent.
"We’re working through that wish list," Alden said.
Among the recent work was the installation of new windows in the new headworks and blower buildings and the control building, completion of the headworks restroom and installation of aluminum grating in the control building’s motor room and wet well.
Planning began in January 2019 when local officials were notified of interest from a large manufacturing company looking to locate in Weirton. At the time, officials said the treatment plant, which was built in the 1960s, had little room for additional capacity and would need expansion to support new development in the community.
In other business Thursday, the Sanitary Board approved:
– The purchase of a new Limitorque actuator for the Willow Street buffer station valve at a cost of $9,581.
– The replacement of the variable frequency drive for the Fournier rotary press at a cost of $5,007.60.