T-L File Photo Belmont County’s planned water service upgrades for this year will be welcomed by the city of St. Clairsville, which plans on taking advantage of the projected increased capacity to purchase water from the county.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — The county took another step Wednesday toward long-awaited, large-scale upgrades to water and sewer infrastructure, with work expected to begin early this year.

The commissioners awarded bids and entered into contracts for Belmont County Water and Sewer District improvements based on the recommendation of Poggemeyer Design Group, the project engineer.

The bid to construct a water treatment plant on Guernsey Street in Bellaire was awarded to Christman Constructors Inc. for $26,973,000. The bid for the first phase of water main replacement went to Bova Excavating LLC for $3,093,950, and a bid for the second phase went to Rudzik Excavating Inc. for $6,650,000. Border Patrol LLC will construct the Little McMahon Creek Road Booster Station for $1,256,552. Zenner USA will conduct meter replacement for $2,289,959,89. Jarvis, Downing & Emch will construct an addition to the water and sewer district service building for $524,000.

Christman Constructors of Lansing, Michigan, was the sole bidder for construction of a water treatment plant.

Water main replacement projects attracted bids from Bear Contracting of Bridgeport, West Virginia, for $3,613,275 for the first phase and $7,650,000 for the second; from James White Construction of Weirton for $4,396590 for Phase 1; J.S. Bova Excavating of Struthers, Ohio, for $3,093,950 for Phase 1 and $9,026,600 for Phase 2; Littman Excavating of New Martinsville for $4,261,827 for Phase 1 and $8,107,299 for Phase 2; Tribute Contractors & Consultants of Southpointe, Ohio, for $3,855,300 for Phase 1 and $8,465,330 for Phase 2; J.R. Contracting LLC of Bentleyville, Pennsylvania, for $3,300,000 for Phase 1 and $7,489,600 for Phase 2; Border Patrol LLC of Hopedale for $3,388,995.38 for Phase 1 and $7,359,081.69 for Phase 2; Glenn Johnson Inc. of McKeesport, Pennsylvania, for $3,727,515 for Phase 1; Pollard Land Services Inc. of Girard, Pennsylvania, for $3,389,875 for Phase 1; Stonegate Construction Inc. of Belpre, Ohio, for $4,252,550 for Phase 1; Pro Contracting Inc. of Lost Creek, West Virginia, $3,998,940 for Phase 1; Rudzik Excavating Inc. of Lowellville Road, Struthers, $3,245,045 for Phase 1 and $6,650,000 for Phase 2; Alex E. Paris Contracting out of Atlasburg, Pennsylvania, $3,293,680 for Phase 1 and $7,881,050 for Phase 2; and from Shelly & Sands Inc. of Rayland, $3,739,550 for Phase 1 and $7,569,100 for Phase 2.

The booster station project at Little McMahon Creek Road in St. Clairsville received bids from James White Construction for $1,690,000; B&B Contractors & Developers of Youngstown, Ohio, for $1,406,822; Ohio-West Virginia Excavating of Powhatan Point for $1,337,000; Ferri Contracting Co. of Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, for $1,390,800; Border Patrol LLC for $1,256,552; Alex E. Paris Contracting for $1,588,800; and from Kirk Brothers Co. of Findlay, Ohio, for $1,463,000.

Meter replacements received bids from Zenner USA for $2,067,571.70 and Neptune Equipment of Cincinnati for $1,893,994.03.

Jarvis, Downing & Emch of Wheeling was the sole bidder for the service building addition project.

Commissioners Jerry Echemann and J.P. Dutton said in each case the commissioners took the recommendation of the project engineer and awarded the lowest and best bid.

Three years ago, the county announced a U.S. Department of Agriculture water package, a $60.5 million investment including a $45.5 million direct loan combined with a nearly $15 million grant through the Water and Waste Disposal Loan and Grant Program, to modernize and improve the water system. The loan has a 40-year term at 2.3 percent interest.

Water and Sewer District Director Kelly Porter further elaborated on what the work will mean.

“These are the USDA water projects we’ve been working on for four, five years,” Porter said. “These were the priority projects … to keep us in the water business. … These were some things that needed to be addressed for some time.”

“We’re at capacity at this point in time to get water out to the west side that includes everybody out there — Morristown, Bethesda, Belmont,” Porter said.

Porter elaborated on the work and cost involved in an extensive infrastructure upgrade, using the new water plant as one example.

“In reality, it’s the transition from the old plant site to the new plant site. We’ve got to get water from the well to the new plant and treated water from the new plant up the hill to the site of the old plant. That’ll end up being our No. 1 pump station. A new tank up there as well and the demolition of the old plant. It gets kind of complex.”

Also included in the upgrades will be improved communication between the pump stations, tanks and distribution department. The waterline replacement will extend from Neffs to Little McMahon Creek Road in Richland Township.

He said a dedicated line will also be run from Ohio 9 to the Fox Shannon tank.

He said the improvements will also be vital to the city of St. Clairsville’s intention to shift from it reservoir as its drinking water source to purchasing water from Belmont County.

“You can imagine how important this project is, just for capacity reasons,” Porter said.

Regarding the meter-reading system, Porter said the county currently uses three systems to read meters.

“Which is a nightmare,” he said. “Once this new system is in, we’ll obviously be able to be more efficient with our meter reading and provide better customer service. We’ll actually be able to help customers out when they have a leak in the house. It’ll show up on a meter, in other words on our billing department.”

The addition to the service building will house the distribution department.

Porter said the first pre-construction meeting will be held Feb. 11. Ground could be broken in February or March.

Pultney Township Trustee Frank Shaffer voiced his approval.

“It is a badly needed water situation,” he said. “This will benefit the citizens of Belmont County immensely.”

“There’s a lot of infrastructure stuff on the menu today,” Dutton said. “We’re going to continue to find ways to find more funding.”

In answer to comments from guests, Dutton spoke about the potential for expansion.

“Our existing system needs a lot of work. Until that work is done, we can’t really expand in certain areas,” he said. “We want to have new customers. We want to provide that service.”