Fairmont City Council moves forward with $17 million sewer project

FAIRMONT W.Va. (WBOY) — The Fairmont City Council held its regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday evening which featured a public hearing and approval for an ordinance of more than $17 million stormwater sewer project.

That project involves the improvement of the Morgantown Avenue Storm Sewer Replacement project as well as addressing acid mine drainage in the area. The construction will start around the intersection of Morgantown Avenue and Palatine Street.

The council unanimously approved the project with a Memorandum of Understanding between the city and the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection as well as the Office of Abandoned Mine Lands (AML) and Reclamation.

“There was an abandoned mine in that area the AML group had performed the remediation on before. Prior to that and during that some acid mine drainage has been going into the system and has caused deterioration of that system,” Fairmont Utility Manager John Carson said.

Carson added that the project will be funded through the AML funds and replace the current system. He also said that this upgrade will fix some of the sinkholes that have been created from that deterioration.

“There is going to be roughly about 2,000 feet of pipe ranging from 36 inches to 72-inch pipe. It is extremely deep in that area, there is going to be some, many hurdles for us to overcome,” Carson added.

Any road repairs and utility conflicts needed throughout development will all be considered as part of the project. The city will be working with Thrasher’s Group on the design to bid the project out for a contractor in order to begin work.

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