STEUBENVILLE - City Council agreed Thursday evening to a five-year contract with Chesapeake Exploration that will see the city sell up to 700,000 of treated wastewater, raw river water or treated potable water a day for fracking operations.
The energy company will buy the water at $5 a gallon starting immediately.
Chesapeake is asking for 700,000 gallons a day for its shale drilling operation near state Route 152 north of Richmond.
"They are looking for us to provide water for one fracking line. They would like to immediately start buying the effluent water from our wastewater plant at the rate of $5 for every thousand gallons. That is wastewater that has been treated in our system and is ready to be returned to the Ohio River," explained City Manager Cathy Davison during a special council meeting Thursday.
Davison also said the city can sell untreated or raw river water from its system as well as potable or treated water from the filtration plant.
Councilman at large Kenny Davis said he welcomed the chance for the city to make money.
"The water to be used is wastewater that has been treated and set to go back into the river. We need to be company friendly. We have already treated this water. We are still ahead of the game," said Davis.
"We plan to use the revenue from the sale of the water to stop leaks and improve our water system," added Davison.
Sanitation Superintendent Chuck Murphy told the council utility committee Tuesday night, "Chesapeake is looking at 1,000 gallons a minute. We can easily supply that amount from our wastewater plant. Chesapeake already has a history of using effluent water. They will have to set up a meter to measure the flow of the effluent water they pump out of our system."
Davison said the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency already has given permission for use of the treated wastewater for fracking operations.
Water Superintendent Bill Skinner said the water filtration plant can currently produce six million gallons of treated potable water a day.
"This is an exciting opportunity. We need to be the city moving forward. We also need to be the model for future operations. It is time for us to step up and be the leader in the community," said Davison.
In other business during the special meeting, 6th Ward Councilman David Lalich introduced a resolution to honor city residents Diane Bodo and Joyce Young.
The two women are parents of girls who play for the Steubenville High School basketball team. They also are nurses who reacted quickly and professionally recently when the grandfather of another player on the Big Red team collapsed and went into cardiac arrest, said Lalich. According to Lalich, the women used a defibrillator to revive Chet Masloski who later underwent a heart catherization and angioplasty surgery.
The resolution will be presented to Bodo and Young during the Tuesday regular council meeting.
