MORGANTOWN — The Morgantown Utility Board intends to employ a rapidly emerging technology to address old clay lines along Listravia Avenue.
General Manager Mike McNulty explained trenchless repair is a method by which a pliable PVC lining is inserted into the existing pipes and cured in place.
He said this method will be used to address about 550 feet of 12-inch storm sewer and 380 feet of sanitary sewer lines along Listravia Avenue.
“It’s not new, exactly. We did our first one on Simpson Street, both the sanitary and storm sewer lines, and it proved to be very successful. We’re very pleased with the outcome and so we decided to do it here as well,” McNulty told MUB’s Board of Directors earlier this month.
The board approved a $67,280 contract with Insight Pipe Contracting, out of Harmony, Pa., to do the work.
“If we were to replace this by the conventional method, digging and putting in new pipe, our engineering staff has estimated that to be about $120,000 as compared to $67,000,” McNulty said.
Project Engineer Ken Hacker said the loss in internal pipe diameter created by the liner is offset by the “roughness coefficient” due to the difference in materials.
“You’re going from an old clay line to a PVC line with no joints. It’s very smooth,” he said.
The project is expected to extend the life of the lines by 50 years.
In other MUB news, Communications Director Chris Dale explained the West Virginia Department of Natural Resources is moving forward with the process of stocking MUB’s new Flegal Reservoir.
Two releases have been completed thus far. On Sept. 21, WVDNR released 3,500 bait fish in the 370-million-gallon reservoir. On Oct. 20, about 24,000 bluegill were introduced.
Dale said bass will be released in summer 2024, with catfish and black crappie likely to follow in 2025.
“The WVDNR hopes to eventually get the reservoir on its regular monthly trout stocking list in the future,” Dale said.
For now, however, the reservoir is off limits to anglers while the fish acclimate, mature and reproduce.
