T-L Photo/GAGE VOTA
St. Clairsville Service Director Scott Harvey, right, gives a hopeful update on the reservoir situation. Sitting next to Harvey is President of Council Jim Velvas and Clerk of Council Jacob Debertrand.
ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Service Director Scott Harvey gave a promising update to St. Clairsville City Council on Monday evening.
Although Hurricane Helene was a disaster for countless people in the South, the subsequent rain that St. Clairsville received as the storm system progressed across the country helped replenish the reservoir that has been depleted due to the recent drought Eastern Ohio has experienced this past summer and early fall.
“It kind of stabilized us, so it did help for a while but it didn’t make a huge impact,” Harvey said. “We need more of that consistently, but it will stretch us a little further.”
When the main reservoir started depleting, the city pumped water from its second reservoir located in Provident, which is much smaller. Harvey noted that due to the Provident reservoir being smaller it fills back up more quickly.
“The rain helped considerably,” he said of the Provident reservoir.
Although the rainfall did help both reservoirs, the city is still needing to purchase about 200,000 gallons of water from Belmont County per day. The extra water needed is roughly costing the city $1,000 each day. Harvey added that although it is a costly purchase it’s already treated water, which means that the city doesn’t need to treat the water.
On top of needing to replenish the water in the reservoir, Harvey is currently seeking quotes to dredge the reservoir.
According to National Ocean Services, “Dredging is the removal of sediments and debris from the bottom of lakes, rivers, harbors, and other water bodies. It is a routine necessity in waterways around the world because sedimentation, the natural process of sand and silt washing downstream, gradually fills channels and harbors.”
When the reservoir gets dredged, water needs to be stored at a separate location. Harvey is having an issue finding an adequate place to store the remaining water while removing the sediment and debris.
“As time goes by sediment will come in and settle, which kind of fills the channel. So we try to get in and dredge it every five to seven years,” Harvey said.
He added that despite the drought causing the water depletion, he believes that the reservoir is in good shape. The dredging will free up the channels that allow the water to flow into the reservoir.
“One estimate we had was over $100,000, so we’re waiting on two others. They’re gathering some information and topographical mapping to determine how many cubic yards of dirt they’re going to take out so they can set an estimated price as to how much that is going to cost,” he said.
Later in the meeting, council member Mike Smith asked Planning and Zoning Administrator Tom Murphy if he knew of any plans to make a sidewalk to the future Trinity Health System location on U.S. 40. The question comes from multiple St. Clairsville residents posting on social media requesting that the city become more walkable.
Murphy replied that as far as he knows there are no plans for a sidewalk, but Trinity has expressed interest in connecting its property to the section of the bike trail that will be behind the new building and improving it. Murphy added that he believes that section of U.S. 40 is a more dangerous section and there is also a drop off on the south side of the property, so he believes from an engineering standpoint it wouldn’t be a good idea to build a sidewalk there.