Not long ago, Weirton’s water system – and the people it serves – went through one of the worst winters in its history, with hundreds of line breaks and numerous water outages over a period of several weeks.

People weren’t happy, and, eventually, the complaints found their way to the West Virginia Public Service Commission which held a public hearing in Weirton and launched its own studies of the system.

Among its findings, the PSC ruled Weirton’s storage tank capacity is not sufficient enough to meet requirements of the city, that approximately 40 percent of the water lines are not located below the frost line, and inadequecies in the way customers of notified of issues within the system.

The PSC ordered a detailed plan on the replacement of cast iron and galvized pipe, a leak detection and repair program, and how to achieve a water loss percentage of 15 percent or less.

Earlier this month, the Weirton Area Water Board began that process, amending its existing contracts with Thrasher Engineering to develop a plan for the replacement of 147,500 linear feet of cast iron and galvanized water lines.

The big question now will be – How much will it all cost?

There’s always the possibility the Water Board will be able to get some grant funding or even a loan to assist with the project. That’s where much of the funding for the expansion project at the water treatment plant was derived, after all.

But that’s not guaranteed.

Nobody likes to see a rate increase, and we know anytime there’s even a thought of one, people come out against it even if it means improvements to the systems which serve them.

We won’t know what the answers will be until Thrasher completes its design plan, but we know the community needs to be prepared for all possibilities when the bill comes around.