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EPA awards $2.4 million grant to Wheeling to upgrade wastewater treatment system

Release Date: 8/13/2003
Contact Information: Roy Seneca (215) 814-5567

Contact: Roy Seneca (215) 814-5567
PHILADELPHIA -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded a $2.4 million grant to Wheeling, W. Va. to help pay for improvements to the city’s wastewater treatment plant and collection system.

“Old, inadequate wastewater treatment systems are a major cause of water pollution problems in many communities nationwide, and this grant will help improve water quality while protecting public health in the city of Wheeling,” said Donald S. Welsh, regional administrator for EPA’s mid-Atlantic region.

Treatment plant improvements include replacing the disinfection system and the sludge dewatering system and refurbishing sludge digesters. In addition, a sewer line at 18th Street and Alley E that carries sewage and storm water runoff will be replaced with two sewer lines – one for sewage and one for storm water.

These upgrades will improve the efficiency of the treatment system and help eliminate the harmful effects of residual chlorine in water discharged to the Ohio River, according to Welsh Also, the project will reduce combined sewer overflows to the city’s waterways and reduce the raw sewage discharges and the associated health hazards.

The grant will pay for 55 percent of the estimated $4.4 million project, cost and the city will provide cash for the balance.

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