CHARLESTON — A $2.7 million sewer separation project in Rowlesburg moved towards funding after the West Virginia Infrastructure & Jobs Development Council acted on April 7.

Rowlesburg has been plagued with sewer problems for a number of years.

“The project will separate storm water and sewage,” Preston County Economic Development Agency Executive Director Robbie Baylor said. “It will also address issues in the park, especially where sewage goes into the river.”

Just above the parking lot for the Rowlesburg Community Park is a discharge pipe that drains sewage into the Cheat River during heavy rains.

The Town of Rowlesburg was issued two violations by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, in March and May 2022, when inspectors looked at the discharge point at the end of the Rowlesburg Park parking lot. The second violation was at the lagoon pond.

According to the state report issued in 2022, inspectors observed the sanitary sewer pipe overflow into the Cheat River and said that this occurs daily. They were informed a blockage in the sewer line in the park was the cause of the overflow.

Baylor said this separation project needs to happen before the main project begins.

The main project is a $7.5 million renovation of the Rowlesburg sewage system. The funding was secured by Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., as part of an omnibus funding bill signed by President Joe Biden in 2019.

“Funding for the main sewer project needs to be applied for,” Baylor said. “There is no deadline in which to submit the application for the funding. However, the money has been appropriated for the project.”

The influx of federal funding could mean that instead of revamping the existing sewage lagoon, which is not the best solution but was what the town thought it could afford, the project may include a sewer treatment plant.

The town is proposing two separate sewer projects to address deficiencies outline by the WVDEP. The two projects work to vastly improve a few key areas with the town’s sanitary sewer system.

The first project proposes to replace the main lift station at its current location, replace existing gravity sewer lines, replace the main river crossing and install a grit removal system near the town park. The project also proposed to install a new flow meter at the wastewater treatment plant so that more accurate influent flow data can be recorded.

The second project proposes to construct a new wastewater treatment plant and decommission the existing lagoons.

The project will also include a new influent pump station, flow equalization basin, ultraviolet disinfection system, sludge management facility, supervisory control and data acquisition system, and emergency backup generator.

The project is currently being designed by Thrasher Engineering in Bridgeport.

According to Rowlesburg Mayor Eric Bautista, the town currently cannot connect any new businesses to the sewer system without a special permit from the WVDEP.

“The upgrades to the town sewer system will be a big help in bringing businesses to town,” Bautista said.

In August, critical needs sewer work took place in Manheim and on Church Road to replace four mains at the Manheim station, manholes and sewer work in town. Brian Vandevender Contracting, LLC, in Morgantown, was awarded the contract for $188,240.

The town had also received $299,000 in emergency funding from WVIJDC for road repairs due to collapsing sewer lines.