WEIRTON — The West Virginia Public Service Commission has issued a series of recommendations for Weirton’s water system following a four-month investigation into the operations of the system as a result of lengthy outages to parts of the system last winter.

The investigation came following a request in February from Del. Pat McGeehan, R-Hancock, and included a public hearing held at the Millsop Community Center in Weirton in April.

“Although the number of customer complaints are relatively low considering the size of the customer base, the board must nevertheless make improvements to its system and bring itself into compliance with the rules of both the commission and the Bureau for Public Health,” the report, issued Tuesday night, notes.

As part of the PSC’s recommendations, the Weirton Area Water Board, in an effort to plan upgrades to its distribution system, must — within 90 days, submit an action plan detailing proposals to replace cast iron and galvanized piping in the water system over the next five years, define a leak detection and repair program, achieve a water loss percentage of 15 percent or less, and resolve cited violations of Bureau for Public Health standards which include not having a backup wash water pump and not having sufficient storage capacity.

The board also has been required to submit a report regarding a possible alternate water supply – which could include interconnections with neighboring providers – to provide an additional backup; have a process in place to provide alerts to customers by both text message and email; and include in billing a list of the various methods to access information during major outages.

Utilities Director A.D. “Butch” Mastrantoni explained the water board will be filing a response to the findings.

“We have 10 days to respond,” Mastrantoni said during a special meeting of Weirton Council held Wednesday night.

Violations noted in the report indicate the 6,125,000-gallon water storage tank capacity is not sufficient to meet the two-day minimum requirements.

In addition, the report states approximately 40 percent of Weirton’s water lines are not located below the frost line.

“According to the WAWB, it was believed that the frost line was 36″ for years. At some point, the frost line was redetermined to be 42”. the report notes. “On site digs and excavations over the years has now revealed that a portion of the pipes lay above the frost line . Surface ground levels have also changed in Weirton as a result of development that have resulted in lines being deeper or shallower than originally installed.”

The PSC also cited concerns with how the Weirton Area Water Board calculates its water loss, saying the PSC feels the amount of water lost is close to twice what has been reported.

The PSC report does note efforts to replace distribution pipelines, with $8.8 million spent in the last 10 years, but added “additional monies are necessary to continue with the replacement of the old cast iron and galvanized piping still present in the water system.”

In 2024, the Weirton Area Water Board replaced 2,900 feet of water lines on five streets at a cost of $250,000. Plans have called for the replacement of 3,500 feet in the city’s downtown area this year. Officials previously announced a proposal which would have brought in potentially $4.34 million, through the Army Corps of Engineers and various state programs, to replace distribution lines. The application for those funds was turned down, and the water board now is looking into the possibility of assessing a distribution system improvement charge to assist in raising funds for such a program.