Photo Provided The water level at St. Clairsville’s main reservoir has decreased by close to 10 feet. As a result, the city may begin purchasing water from Belmont County this week to supplement its supply.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — The city likely will begin purchasing water from Belmont County next week to supplement the supply from its reservoirs.

City officials said Friday that due to lack of rainfall, the water level at the primary reservoir has decreased by 8 to 10 feet.

“You can see the shoreline’s exposed for many, many feet,” Safety and Service Director Jim Zucal said. “That’s very, very abnormal. I’ve been here since 2016 and I haven’t seen it like that ever. … Most years it’s not even measurable. On a scale of 1 to 10, this is probably an 8. It’s bad. … The summers that I’ve been here, 1 to 2 feet was the most.”

Zucal said the main reservoir holds 27 million gallons of water.

“It’s probably around 50 percent loss,” he said. “It’s not real deep. … It’s not much more than” 16 feet.

He said the city water system has extensive issues.

“This is a problem from source to tap, and this is one of the key components. We haven’t had any measurable rain in the month of September, and I’ve contacted the county water system. We’re actually pumping from our second auxiliary reservoir in Provident,” he said.

Zucal said the city has not used the Provident reservoir, located just north of the city off Ohio 9, since 2016 — and that was only for a limited time during 2016’s October drought.

“We’ve notified the county that we may have to start taking our 325,000 gallons a day, which is our full amount by contract. We’re in a drastic situation,” he said. “Our plan is probably we’ll have to start Monday, the first of the week.”

Mayor Terry Pugh said officials were still determining the cost of using county water. Pugh said he did not know how long St. Clairsville might have to draw from the county. Belmont County officials could not be reached for comment.

“We might have to start drawing our contractual amounts,” Pugh said. “That’s about all they can provide us. … I would think it would have to be next week we would have to start gradually buying water from them to subsidize our water.”

Pugh said the Provident reservoir likely will be depleted soon. He said both reservoirs also must be dredged.

“It’s so dry. … If we don’t have a significant rainfall, meaning inches, we’re not going to see any impact. The ground’s dry. It’s hard. Most of it’s going to run off ’til it soaks in. Until the fall rains start in November, we still have another six or eight weeks,” Zucal said.

This comes after the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency mandated upgrades to the system. Several weeks ago, OEPA officials inspected the system, determining algal blooms in the reservoir could lead to toxins. Zucal said these developments may exacerbate the matter.

“The cool nights are going to help, but if the temperature stays up … we’re having weather in the 80s. Now you’re having more algae in a smaller area with warm temperatures. We need it to cool down, and we need to get some rain,” he said. “This city is in dire straits on the water situation.”

The aging water system has been a point of heated debate among city council members, candidates in the mayoral race to be decided on Nov. 5 and the public. While Pugh is in favor of privatization and selling the system to the state-regulated entity Aqua Ohio, candidates Bill Brooks, Kathyrn Thalman and several council members want an independent study of the system and to explore options for maintaining local control.

The first of three readings of a proposed contract with Aqua Ohio is set for 7:30 p.m. Oct. 7.

Pugh said upgrades to the plant and distribution system would be in the tens of millions of dollars, and the city has spent $400,000 this year on repairs to the water plant.

Pugh and Zucal said Aqua Ohio has the resources and expertise to address the OEPA’s mandates, while upgrading the system locally will mean going further into debt. Pugh and Zucal said they have recently spoken with EPA officials including Craig Butler, chief of the Ohio EPA for the Southeast District.

“They gave some very important facts about the future of St. Clairsville,” Zucal said. “They said, ‘We’re not going away people. We’re here to stay.'”

“Whether it’s myself and Mr. Zucal or somebody else sitting in our seats, the EPA’s not going away, and these things have to be corrected,” Pugh said. “These are requirements that must be corrected.”

Zucal said the mandates include the plant’s lower intake, which is plugged and will require a diver to descend and work on the problem.

“There’s probably 10 or 12 feet of sediment. … This is probably a million-dollar fix,” Zucal said, adding that vacuuming sediment out of the reservoir will likely cost $2,500 an hour. “It will take several weeks or more just to get the sediment out, and then where do you put it?”

The city is also required to have a Class 3 water operator. Zucal said several applicants are seeking the job. Pugh said the OEPA may permit two Class 3 operators to work part-time for a total of 40 hours, rather than a full-time commitment from one individual.