HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — On Thursday, the Huntington Sanitary Board opened bids for the expansion of the wastewater treatment plant in Westmoreland.
The plant, which was constructed in 1964, serves around 27,000 customers in Huntington and its surrounding towns. It is known as the largest collection and treatment system in West Virginia, as it has an average flow of nine to 12 million gallons on a dry-weather day.
Since a secondary treatment process was added to the plant in 1986, the facility has not seen many upgrades.
According to a release, the plant is at 98 percent capacity. The plant can process 14 to 15 million gallons of water on a wet-weather day, but anything above that level is not able to be treated to permittable limits and is then discharged into the Ohio River.
This project, which is expected to be the largest municipal infrastructure project in the state’s history, has three bidders. The companies that submitted bids to the Sanitary Board were Bowen Construction of Indianapolis, Indiana, Judy Construction of Cynthiana, Kentucky, and Triton Construction of Saint Albans.
Projections show that the expansion will allow the plant to treat 17 million gallons of water on a dry-weather day and up to 64 million gallons on a wet-weather day. Projections also have a total economic impact of $101.6 million stemming from the expanded plant, and the creation and support of over 600 jobs. The expanded plant is also projected to generate $5.1 million in taxes paid to the city and state during construction.
The expansion project is expected to be completed in 2030.