Rowlesburg needs $30,000 to start sewer project

The Town Council in Rowlesburg told residents the town needs to address the sewer system during its July 9 meeting. But before any planning on a new system could begin, the town needs to come up with $30,000 to pay consultants and start a study.

The bottom line is the town got hit with a $200,000 fine a few years ago, and this is something that should have started years ago, but it didn’t,” Mayor Eric Bautista said. “In order to get Thrasher Engineering, Steptoe & Johnson and Roth & White CPAs, and to get a study, it’s going to cost about $30,000.”

Bautista said there are a million little things that need to be fixed in the town, but there is no money to do so. “But this system is a tremendous issue, and most people don’t realize how much of an issue it is,” Bautista said.

The town was fined $192,200 in 2016 for a violation, but an environmental attorney from Steptoe & Johnson was able to get the fine reduced to $2,500.

“The next time the DEP won’t be as forgiving,” Bautista said. “If they come in and shut the system off, and no one will be able to flush their toilets, what does the town do then?”

The problem is so prevalent that there is a sign in the Rowlesburg Community Park, close to the parking lot, stating that “sewage discharges into the Cheat River every time it rains.”

The town has backwash from the storm/sewage system going into the river during a hard rain. Former mayor Barbara Banister had said she had thought the problem was fixed when a contractor put a catch basin at the site, but it was not.