Commission allocates $50,000 for waterline

lewisburg — Greenbrier County Commissioners have agreed to allocate $50,000 for engineering and planning connected to the next segment of Public Service District No. 2’s Sam Black waterline extension project.

Now that the first portion of the extension — which included upgrades to PSD No. 2’s treatment plant and addition of a water tank — is complete, county officials are anxious to move on to a segment that will carry public water from Sam Black to Asbury. The $50,000 allocation unanimously approved Tuesday will pay for an engineering report that is necessary before larger funding veins can be tapped.

Commission President Lowell Rose noted that this portion of the project includes a section of the county between Rainelle and Charmco as well. He said, once completed, the waterline extension will allow water to flow back and forth between Rainelle and Asbury, providing backup water sources for a large swath of the western end of the county.

Pointing out that he has been working toward a regionally interconnected water system ever since he was elected to the commission five years ago, Rose said the Asbury/Alta area is particularly crucial, as many people living there don’t have adequate access to clean drinking water.

Filling in some of the other gaps in the planned regional system, Rose said he anticipates a water tank will be installed atop Muddy Creek Mountain, thereby tying in the new lines in the west end to the existing Lewisburg water system in the east end of the county. He said a connection between the Lewisburg system and White Sulphur Springs’ city water is also currently in the works.

The Lewisburg-owned water system serves around 12,000 customers in an area that includes not just the city but also Fairlea, Ronceverte, Renick, Frankford and Caldwell.

That system is the focus of a $38 million improvement project soon to get underway that will relocate the water plant’s Greenbrier River intake and otherwise upgrade the plant, bringing its treatment capacity up to 4,000 gallons per minute. The project also includes installation of two new water storage tanks, removal of two aging tanks and booster pumps, and waterline upgrades to improve flow.

The county is not involved in financing the Lewisburg waterworks project, which is expected to conclude sometime in 2022.

— Email: talvey@register-herald.com