MORGANTOWN — Morgantown Utility Board offered a first look at its new reservoir Wednesday, with a groundbreaking ceremony begun at WVU’s Erickson Alumni Center and concluded at the site of the new dam.
The new reservoir, officially dubbed the George B. Flegal Dam and Reservoir during the Erickson portion of the day, will be more than nine times the size of the current Cobun Creek Reservoir.
The current reservoir holds 40 million gallons, a three-day backup supply. The second will hold 370 million, a 30-day supply. It stretches about 4,500 feet southeastward in the valley between Grafton Road and Kingwood Pike — along Cobun Creek Road and following the lines of Cobun Creek and Mountain Run.
The Flegal Reservoir will be about 800 to 1,000 feet wide, said MUB General Manager Tim Ball, and 48 feet deep. The earthen dam to hold the reservoir in place will be about 870 to 1,000 feet across the top, about 460 feet across its bottom and 74 feet tall.
The construction is projected to be complete in late 2020. It will take about six months to fill, in stages.
During the Erickson portion, Ball said the January 2014 Freedom Industries chemical spill into the Elk and Kanawha rivers sparked the construction of the new dam.
“It’s kind of been an unofficial motto, at least with me, ‘We don’t want to be Charleston,’” he said.
Morgantown already has a leg up on Charleston, he said. Charleston’s plant, supplied by West Virginia American Water, has only one source. Morgantown has two: the Monongahela River and the Cobun Creek Reservoir that sits in White Park.
But the reservoir is good for only three days. The Freedom spill closed Charleston’s plant for a week and disrupted service in the nine-county area for three more.
So, within a month of that spill, Ball said, MUB issued a requests-for-proposals for design services for a second reservoir. In February 2016, Morgantown City Council approved ordinances for construction bonds and new rates to pay for the job.
They had hoped to start construction by late 2016, he said, but some permitting delays held things up. Now, there’s only one permit left to obtain and they’re ready to break ground.
The reservoir, Ball said, is named for Morgantown Water Commission’s (MUB’s predecessor) first engineer manager and visionary leader. In 1960, Flegal led the effort to purchase the land where the reservoir is situated and drew up plans “remarkably similar” to the current plan.
At Erickson, Ball read and presented a resolution to Flegal’s son and daughter-in-law, Greg and Linda Flegal, of Kennett Square, Pa., regarding the naming of the reservoir.
Greg Flegal said his father was a Morgantown native, a 1945 Morgantown High grad and a WVU alumnus and football fan. He lived in south Carolina and, died four months ago.
“He would have loved to have been here. He would have been very proud of this,” Flegal said.
Ball also unveiled a replica of the commemorative bronze plaque bearing the reservoir’s name that will be placed at the dam and reservoir.
Various Morgantown and MUB officials and representatives of the contractors working on the project were at the ceremony.
Mayor Bill Kawecki said, “We benefit now today from our city fathers who thought about this early on. … They had the foresight to understand we are a growing community. Now we have the benefit of all of you contributing to that effort moving us forward.”
At the reservoir site, everyone gathered on a gravel platform alongside Cobun Creek Road overlooking the reservoir valley for the ceremonial golden-shovel pictures.
On the other side, large shovel machines, looking very small, were climbing up and down the hill, hauling away fallen timber. Looking along the valley, its logged-off banks soon to be the reservoir banks curved off to the right and out of sight, stretching nearly a mile.
Red and orange balloons floated from the valley floor indicating the dimensions of the dam and the depth of the water. MUB officials said the platform everyone stood on and the adjacent portion of road will be beneath 25 feet of water when the dam is filled. That road segment will be relocated up the hill.
The total project is expected to cost $47 million, MUB said, and will include some work at the Cobun Creek dam to increase its longevity. The Flegal reservoir is expected to provide a secondary water supply for at least 50 years, probably much longer.
