Beckley's New Wastewater Main Should Halt Discharges
The city of Beckley, W. Va., has received a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grant for $955,000 to help pay for 7,000 feet of new wastewater main.
EPA awarded the grant to improve water quality in Piney and Little Whitestick Creek, and eliminate a potential public health hazard. The grant will help pay for the estimated $1.8 million project cost with the balance being financed by loans through the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection’s State Revolving Fund loan program. The projected completion date for the project is January 2010.
The city will replace the main with new lined high density polyethylene pipe. The main conveys more than 1.5 million gallons of wastewater to the city’s wastewater treatment plant daily. The main is being installed adjacent to Greenwood Memorial Park east of U.S. Route 19, between U.S. Route 19 and the Piney Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant.
Originally constructed in the late 1960s, many sections of the wastewater main failed more than a dozen times in 2008, discharging large quantities of raw sewage into the creeks.