From The Intelligencer: BENWOOD – The second phase of the $25 million Benwood stormwater separation project is underway in the city.
David McLaughlin, director of operations and development for the city of Benwood, on Tuesday said Ohio-West Virginia Excavating was hired to complete the wastewater line work for Phase 2 at a cost of $3.5 million. He anticipates the work will be completed in the spring.
Afterward, the third phase of the line project will begin in the central area of the city. The future Phase 4 will include the Roosevelt Avenue and Boggs Run area along the creek and the future Phase 5 will include lines in the business district, which is the area around A&B Kia.
He said the entire project for all five phases with all stormwater and wastewater lines being separated across the city is anticipated to cost about $25 million.
“The federal government mandated that municipalities separate their storm water from their sewage,” he said.
While the project is mandatory, McLaughlin said it will also be money-saving for Benwood as the city of Wheeling processes Benwood’s wastewater, which, for now, includes stormwater.
“Our customers are paying for that,” he said.
When the stormwater lines are separated from wastewater, there will be less water to be processed, thus less money being spent to do so.
“Our bill from Wheeling should be greatly reduced and residents will benefit,” he noted.
“We’re excited it’s happening and getting done. There is a lot of state and federal funding for this project,” he added.
McLaughlin said the city will pursue such funding for each phase of the project. To date, wastewater rates had to be raised to help fund Phase 2; however, city officials do not anticipate having to do that again in the near future, he said.
McLaughlin estimated the entire project has about three to four years left on it.
“It’s helped the residents and we’ve got local people working on it and union guys on the jobs. And the paving company working, that brings jobs in. It’s a win-win for everybody,” he added.
McLaughlin noted during Phase 1 the city took advantage of Marshall Street being dug up and replaced about 300 yards of a main waterline that was constantly breaking in the past. He noted it was costly, but the city was able to absorb that cost and now has a new main waterline that will last for many years.
He added that the city’s effort to get residents to remove their downspout connections from their sewage lines also is continuing. He noted, to date, about 70% of the city’s residents have already done the work.
“We’re asking residents to remove those to help reduce the overall costs to residential rates,” he said. “About 70% are in compliance. There are residents who can’t for one reason or another, but if we can get 90% of the homes and businesses to remove those that would contribute to keeping our rates low.”
McLaughlin said most residents have been patient during the effort. When workers begin to dig and move earth sometimes old iron pipes can move and crack, too, leading to accidental breaks.
“There have been some water breaks along the way that we’ve had to fix. Those things are expected and anticipated. The guys did their best to get them fixed and the water turned back on,” he said.