Last August, this newspaper published an editorial, under the “Our Opinion” banner, titled “The water bill will come due, eventually.”

Well, it’s looking as if that time is approaching.

At the time, the Weirton Area Water Board was working with Thrasher Engineering to develop a plan for the replacement of 147,500 linear feet of cast iron and galvanized water lines within the distribution system.

It’s all part of the order given last summer by the West Virginia Public Service Commission following last winter’s water woes, with an initial focus on some of the worst areas of the system known at the time.

Thursday afternoon, the Water Board was informed a study of the system shows there is approximately 500,000 linear feet, or approximately 95 miles worth, of the cast iron and galvanized line in need of replacement.

The price tag? A currently estimated $190 million.

As we warned back in August, funding such a project will not be easy. The Water Board has applied for funding through the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers in the hope of addressing some of those lines, in particular a big section of the city’s downtown. They continue to wait for a response.

There’s always hope that there will be some outside funding opportunities available – whether it be grants or what have you – to cut down on some of that cost, it won’t cover the entire $190 million. That means, unfortunately, there will have to be some form of rate increase.

The idea of checking with the federal government for support has been raised. That’s still a possibility, but it’s going to take time to know for sure, and, as a result of the PSC’s five-year deadline, there’s no guarantee it will be available in time.

The Water Board had received almost $22.5 million a few years ago as part of the $40 million upgrade project at the water treatment plant. While it’s possible they may be able to get some Congressionally Directed Spending to put toward the line replacements, it’s not likely the federal government will be willing to open up its purse that much this time around. Times, and administrations, have changed in Washington, D.C., and things are done differently these days.

That leads into something I’ve noticed as part of the public debate on this issue. There are residents who continue to remain under the impression those funds being used on the treatment plant project could just be shifted over to fund distribution system upgrades.

That’s simply not the case. Most of those funds were specifically earmarked (a work I continue to hear government doesn’t like to use anymore) for the plant project. If they had been moved for use elsewhere, the state and feds could easily come and take that money back. Beyond that, there are major legal issues which could arise for such a move. It’s not like at home where you decide to take $20 out what you had planned to use to go out to eat to spend on gas.

There are consequences.

This is like many situations several of our communities have found themselves in over the years. Much of our local infrastructure was put in between 50 and 100 years ago, depending on which area you are considering. In that time, regulations have changed on how such lines are to be placed, or what they are to be made of. The level of ground overhead has changed as areas are developed. Local weather patterns may or may not be different. The economy has definitely changed, and much has been kicked down the road until the money was available.

As with all of those things, it is the people who are paying for those decisions of the past.

(Howell, a resident of Colliers, is managing editor of The Weirton Daily Times, and can be contacted at chowell@weirtondailytimes.com or followed on Twitter/X @CHowellWDT)