MUB study initiates projects previously estimated at $64 million

Dominion Post

14-05-2025

MORGANTOWN — The Morgantown Utility Board has approved $40,000 for a study tied to an estimated $64 million in improvements across MUB's water delivery system.
The funds will be paid to Strand Associates for a detailed preliminary engineering report necessary to seek financing for 10 projects ranging in scope and cost from major upgrades to the Robert B. Creel Water Treatment Facility to new water mains, booster stations, updated customer metering and the rehabilitation of elevated storage tanks.
Five of those projects are smaller, or less complex. MUB is looking for the report to address both design and construction/implementation costs. Those include:
– Mileground and Greystone elevated storage tank rehabilitation
– Monongahela Boulevard water line design and construction
– Automated meter reading design and implementation
– Wiles Hill Water Booster Station Generator design and implementation
– Telemetry update design and implementation
Due to scope, complexity and anticipated cost, the five remaining projects are included as 'design only.' They are:
– Sabraton District Water Booster Station improvements
– New Union District water booster station
– Union District water booster station piping
– Union District and Cheat Neck District connection
– Water treatment plant upgrades and renovations
Far and away, the most complex and costly item on the list is the water treatment plant improvement.
In September, Scott Stearns of Strand Associates estimated the cost of that work – which will include the construction of a new high-service pumping station – at $40 million and said it would likely take at least four years to plan, engineer, finance and construct.
Time is of the essence, he said, as the facility could begin approaching its functional capacity in the next four to six years.
'These [projects] are all associated with actual needs, but all these projects don't need to be done simultaneously,' Stearns said at the time. 'But the water treatment plant, I think we've identified here as a real need.'
Other estimated costs tied to these projects are: Booster stations ($15.4 million); customer metering ($4.8 million); water mains ($2.6 million) and elevated storage tank rehabilitation ($1.3 million).
MUB Communications Director Chris Dale said that once Strand Associates delivers the report, MUB will seek financing for projects individually.
'So, what we're doing is putting together one agreement with Strand to help us put together the funding package, so we can go and seek either financing through the West Virginia Infrastructure and Jobs Development Council or the West Virginia Water Development Authority, or go to the private market,' MUB General Manager Mike McNulty said. 'It'll wrap that up very neat for all of the different projects and we'll have what we think this first phase would be for actual construction and then what the design would be for the water treatment and the Sabraton and Union district projects.'
In other MUB news, the board approved a $213,100 contract with Omni Associates for architectural work tied to the construction of a new maintenance shop and garage near MUB's Green Bag Road headquarters.
McNulty said the overall project is expected to be in the $1.5 million to $2 million range depending on the cost of materials.
The building will be large enough to accommodate MUB's large tankers and dump trucks as well as office space and storage areas.