photo by: Emma Delk

From left, Moundsville Councilman Randy Chamberlain, Councilwoman Judy Hunt and City Attorney Thomas White listen during a recent finance subcommittee meeting.

The Moundsville Sanitary Department has improvements coming down the pipeline for the city’s sewers, with its upcoming $4.2 million sanitary project set to begin in spring 2025.

The improvements will begin with an investigation of three city sewer lines to determine whether the condition of the pipes requires action by the Moundsville Sanitary/Stormwater Utility Board.

The MSD will collaborate with the engineering and architecture firm Burgess & Niple to investigate the pipe conditions of the existing North Interceptor Sewer, portions of the Cherokee Hills Trunkline Sewer and the First Street Trunkline Sewer.

According to Brock Castilow, Moundsville Sanitary & Stormwater Department superintendent, the investigation will serve as phase two of the department’s long-term control plan for the city’s sewers, which aims to prevent groundwater infiltration into sewer pipes.

The North Interceptor evaluation will involve the sewer pipe from the wastewater treatment plant to Cherokee Hills. According to Tim Utt, Burgess & Niple project manager, the evaluation will involve a visual inspection of the sewer pipe using a crawler camera equipped with a closed-circuit television. The camera will be used “manhole to manhole” to observe the interior condition of the pipe, including taps and deformations.

Similar investigations will be conducted on the Cherokee Hills Trunkline Sewer and the First Street Trunkline Sewer for the MSB to determine the “risk” of the sewers, according to Utt.

Utt said the sewer pipe conditions were currently “unknown” and could be a “ticking time bomb.” He noted that a sewer line’s “catastrophic failure” could cost the city “millions to get it back together.”

After the sewers are investigated, improvements will be made to the city’s trunkline sewer to reduce and eliminate water overflow during wet weather. Utt outlined the improvements as focusing on eliminating “i and i,” or inflow and infiltration, of groundwater into sewer lines.

To accomplish this, Utt said the project would remove “as many surface drains off the street as possible,” as the groundwater that infiltrates pipes comes from rainwater that soaks into the ground through residents’ downspouts.

The MSB will replace sections of the North Interceptor Sewer to eliminate infiltration around the pipe joints and broken areas. Utt said the replacements would occur “across the wetland areas” where the pipe runs and cost $1.26 million.

The MSB will also replace the primary sewer digester that breaks down organized waste at the city wastewater treatment plant. This replacement will reduce the facility’s reliance on natural gas during winter.

Utt said the $1.3 million in digester improvements would also allow the facility to use excess methane gas from the digester to heat other areas of the wastewater treatment plant.

Utt said the construction costs for phase two of the project would total $3.385 million, in addition to $785,000 of non-construction costs and a $40,000 project contingency.

The total $4.2 million sanitary project will appear on residents’ utility bills as an estimated rate increase of $2.09 per month to cover operation and maintenance costs and an added rate service. Utt outlined that the projected monthly rate for 3,400 gallons would be $30.54.

Bids will open for the project on Nov. 7, and construction will begin March 1. Substantial project completion is estimated for Oct. 27, 2025, with an estimated completion date of Nov. 26, 2025.

According to Utt, the rate would go into effect for MSB customers once the project has reached “substantial completion.” He estimated that customers would see the proposed rate increase reflected in the January 2026 billing cycle, with customers “realizing and seeing” the rate increase then.