T-L Photo/ROBERT A. DEFRANK St. Clairsville Service and Safety Director Jim Zucal holds a sample of carbon steel pipe removed from the water filtration plant, which has been replaced with stainless steel.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — One water project in the city is one-third done, and groundwork is being laid for another to deal with pressing flooding issues.

During last week’s council meeting, Safety and Service Director Jim Zucal reported on the replacement of one of the city water treatment plant’s three filters. A full council was present, with members Jim Velas, Frank Sabatino, Mark Bukmir, Perry Basile, Beth Oprisch, Linda Jordan, Mike Smith and President Tim Porter in attendance.

The total cost of the project came to about $30,000 with two more remaining, to be replaced in the next two weeks.

“There are three filters at the plant. They are vertical filters in a concrete tank.

“They’re relatively wide, and they’re filled with sand and gravel. At the bottom there are pipes that circulate the water. The water’s pushed through sand and gravel to purify the water and then backwashed,” Zucal said.

“What we found out was the original filter pipe at the bottom, we think came with the plant, so it was from the 1930s and has never been changed,” he said. “There was a lot of decay, a lot of issues from age.”

He said the carbon steel pipe has since been replaced with stainless steel.

In addition, the sand and gravel was much larger than the standard 1 inch specified by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.

Zucal added that the water is and has been safe, treated and chlorinated, but the residents will notice the change.

“The water was safe, just an old, old system. We will have better quality, better purity, better taste as a result of all this,” he said.

In response to questions from Basile and Oprisch, Zucal said the gravel will be changed every 10 to 12 years.

“We think that (gravel) was the original put in in the 1930s,” Zucal said. “The workers told me they had to take a pick and shovel to break it loose. We vacuumed it out with a vac truck.”

Zucal reported the city had purchased a new street sweeper for about $150,000 through a state purchasing and competitive bid program. Zucal said the sweeper would be suitable for the hilly areas and alleys around town.

In other matters, Mayor Terry Pugh pointed out that the city saw 3 inches of rain on Aug. 17. As a result, homes on Bellview Street and Overbaugh Avenue saw a repeat of the flooding issues that occurred during a 5-inch rain about a month prior. That prior flood motivated officials to take a fact-finding tour and make the initial steps in a potential project to replace the infrastructure.

“They’re major problems. It’s old infrastructure,” he said, adding that the past two weeks have seen engineers inspecting the pipes using remote-controlled cameras.

“We have an idea of where things are down there now — how bad things are,” he said.

“We took a camera through the sewer lines, both the storm and the sanitary sewer lines, and saw where all the cross-connection and various components were put together,” Zucal said, adding that the area in question extends from north of the courthouse to Bellview Street and Overbaugh Avenue, about 1,000 feet. “We know we need a new storm sewer line. A bigger line, and of course separate the sanitary sewer line from there. Get the sanitary sewer out away from under a couple of homes.”

Once the city has a clearer idea of the cost and has created a plan, council will apply for Ohio Public Works Commission funding.

“We’re talking millions of dollars, quite honestly,” Pugh said. He also commended the workers who responded during the recent rains. “It’s hard to fight Mother Nature, and I’ve never seen water run uphill.”

Council also passed an ordinance authorizing bids for an oil and gas lease on a 1.901-acre property beneath the bicycle trail, previously overlooked.