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The project seeks to lessen flooding in the area by separating portions of the storm sewers from the combined sanitary sewer and installing a pump station to force main systems to move runoff from the two low-lying areas to the Ohio River.

The project is expected to take approximately two years to complete.

The separation will allow a reduction of about 2 million gallons of stormwater to be removed from the combined system and directly pumped to the Ohio River, Brian Bracey, executive director of the Sanitary Board, said last month. Instead of stormwater going into the pipes and filling them up, it will go into a separate pipe that will go out into the river, he said.

The project will have several phases: The first focuses on 25th Street between Guyan Avenue and 4th Avenue. Construction crews will begin installing a 24-inch sewer pipe near the Ohio River and proceed south toward 4th Avenue. The first phase is expected to continue until sometime in July.

During the first phase, there will be periods when individual blocks of 25th Street will be accessible to local traffic only, such as residential access and deliveries. Residents will also have to watch for temporary lane closures on 3rd Avenue at 25th Street once installation of the sewer pipe reaches that intersection.

Bryan Chambers, Huntington Water Quality Board communications director, said in an email last month that the project is critical for emergency response vehicles to travel through town in a timely safe manner during heavy rain events. The project will also help expand economic growth in the area through the redevelop of the former ACF industrial site at the project area.

The overall cost of the project will be a little over $14 million. The projectÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s funding is made up of $11,874,000 of grant funds and the remainder from the utilityÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s rate increases and bonds.

The City of Huntington contributed $7.5 million of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) grant funds toward the project. The West Virginia Water Development Authority contributed $2.8 million, and the clean water state revolving fund gave $1,574,000.

The sewer separation project is part of several projects ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥” a total investment of approximately $200 million ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥” that will upgrade HuntingtonÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s public sanitary sewer system.

The projects including the expansion of the wastewater treatment plant, the 4th Street pump station, the 13th Street pump station and the backflow preventer project will upgrade the Sanitary BoardÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s aging infrastructure such as the wastewater treatment plant, which went online in 1964, Bracey said.

The Sanitary Board started looking into upgrading its infrastructure before COVID-19. Bracey said the board and staff knew it was needed as all of the infrastructure was built in the 1950s and 1960s.

ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œItÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s not one thing. ItÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s a whole bunch of things thatÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s happening simultaneously thatÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s causing flooding throughout our system,ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥� Bracey said. ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œInefficiency of a wastewater treatment plant, inefficiencies of pump stations, combined capacity of stormwater and wastewater in the same pipes, rivers that intrude into us and rain events that are far unpredictable, and we see more torrential rain.ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥�

Because the utilityÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s infrastructure is underground or ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œway down on the West End,ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥� the projectÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s affect on the city will be subtle and many residents wonÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™t notice a difference until a heavy rain event occurs, Bracey said.

High water in those areas ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œwonÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™t be the norm anymore,ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥� he said.

The wastewater treatment plant expansion project is currently out for bid. The utilityÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s W.Va. 10 sewer extension project has been awarded.