WEIRTON - James White Construction won the $493,192 contract for Phase I sewer upgrades in north Weirton.
The decision came at Thursday's Weirton Sanitary Board meeting. Assistant Utilities Director Kevin Board said the Weirton contractor's bid was the lowest of the three submitted: Alex Paris Contracting bid $673,579 for the job, and Bridgeport-based Bear Contracting, $666,613.
"Most of it looked to us like mobilization costs, the cost for them to get equipment to Weirton," Board said. "White's cost for that are a lot lower, they're already here."
The Phase I work will service roughly 1,000 structures along Pennsylvania Avenue and nearby neighborhoods, routing sanitary flow from them to the 5th Street Lift Station. The flow is currently being treated with chemicals before being discharged into the Ohio River, and Utilities Director A.D. "Butch" Mastrantoni in the past has said eliminating the need for chemical disinfection and decholorination will shave $50,000 a year from the board's operating costs.
Once Phase I is completed, the board will be installing a force main to divert overflow to the lift station and back to the treatment plant.
"The 5th Street Lift Station is at capacity now, adding flow from another 1,000 structures will overwhelm it," Mastrantoni said. "The DEP says we have to upsize the line serving the lift station and run about 26,000 lineal feet of line, about six miles, to the plant."
Total cost is expected to be around $6 million. Phase I, including engineering fees and other costs, will tally about $1.3 million, he said.
The city is under a federal consent order to correct self-detected problems with the sanitary flow into the Ohio River. Mastrantoni said untreated sanitary flow from those 1,000 structures in northern and eastern Weirton had been entering the Ohio River from an impound on ArcelorMittal's property.
"It was supposed to be industrial process water, not fecal coliforms," he said. "To take care of that, the first phase will take flow co-mingled with industrial water ... and divert it to the lift station. From there it will be pumped to the treatment plant."
Mastrantoni said the Phase I work will bring them into compliance with the consent order, affording them "a little more time" to get the entire update done.
A pre-construction meeting with the contractor will be conducted, though it hasn't been scheduled.
"It will either be next week or the first week of October," Board said.
Once they've met and a notice to proceed has been issued, he said it's the kind of project that could be done during the winter months.
"If they start within the next three weeks, we're hoping they can keep after it and within three to five months have this part of it done," he said. "That would give us the ability to be ready for the second phase, which will be more impactful for the town because it extends the sewer line all the way through downtown."
Mastrantoni said he's hoping to mitigate the impact on local businesses through the contract specifications.
(Harris can be contacted at lharris@heraldstaronline.com)
