The city of Winfield's plans to construct a new sewer plant have been temporarily stalled as officials wait for the West Virginia Division of Culture to complete its review of the site.
Some officials, like Mayor Randy Barrett, are worried they're running out of time.
"We need to start as soon as possible, but we can't start until the design is done," Barrett said.
The new sewer plant will replace the one that currently sits along the Kanawha River and has come under scrutiny from the Department of Environmental Protections since 2001 for releasing too much ammonia nitrogen into the water.
The plant most recently received a violation on June 30 for having an average monthly concentration of 17.9 milligrams per liter of ammonia nitrogen in the water, according to Yogesh Patel, assistant director at the state Department of Environmental Protection's Division of Water and Wastewater Management.
Patel said the maximum monthly average is 15 milligrams per liter and couldn't say how serious of a violation that was.
The plant serves about 1,100 customers.
When it was built in the mid-'80s, it was designed to be able to treat 300,000 gallons of water a day and serve about 3,000 customers, according to the city's comprehensive plan from 2011.
For now, Barrett and other officials working on the project are waiting for a report to come back from the West Virginia Division of Culture and History.
The division was asked to review the site on July 6 to make sure the project wouldn't disturb any artifacts found along the river, according to spokeswoman Caryn Gresham. The division has since received a report from the contractors who were on the site and a decision should be reached whether to approve or deny the site by Aug. 6.
"There have been some artifact findings in Putnam County," Gresham said. "The [Kanawha River] that runs through there was an area that many Native Americans and prehistoric Native Americans were, so we have found sites along the area."
Even if the proposed site isn't approved, Barrett said there are about five acres of land next to it that the new sewer plant could be easily moved to.
If the division OKs the site, Barrett's worries still aren't over.
"The DEP approved our project, and that was in May of last year," Barrett said. "We are having the design made right now and you can't apply for a loan until the design is finished."
With each passing week, Barrett worries the money won't be available for the roughly $7.5 million loan the city requested.
While city officials wait to move forward with design plans, the city is in the process of annexing an additional 223 acres into the city's limits. Barrett said the businesses and residents in the area rely on the sewer system. Barrett wants people in that area to pay their fair share.
"We just raised every body's bill," Barrett said. "They should pay at least what they pay in the city, but there's a utility tax they don't pay."
Starting April 25, sewer rates in Winfield increased by 50 percent for all residential, commercial and public authority costumers, according to a public notice from the Public Service Commission. This translates to an additional $180 more per year that residential customers will have to pay.
The increase will add nearly $300,000 in additional revenue, the notice estimates.
But sewer rates are scheduled to increase again by an additional 21 percent after "substantial completion of the project." This will create an additional $190,000 in revenue each year.
The people of Winfield were given 30 days to petition the increases, but none did. One man submitted an online petition after the 30 days were up, according to Susan Small, spokeswoman for the PSC.
"We didn't get one complaint. I had one guy question something in the process, he put a petition out and no one signed it," Barrett said. "No one complains until their bill goes up."
Reach Jake Jarvis at
jake.jarvis@wvgazette.com,
304-348-7905 or follow
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