West Virginia American Water OK’d to take over Boone PSD sewer operations

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) – West Virginia-American Water Company was given the green light Thursday to take control of a distressed southcentral West Virginia sewer district.

A joint petition was filed by West Virginia-American (WVAWC) and the district on Feb. 23 to allow West Virginia to acquire the sewer operations of the Boone-Raleigh Public Service District. The district, based in Sylvester, Boone County, provides service to 380 sewer customers in four locations in Boone County.

Thursday’s transaction technically is an “asset purchase agreement,” to allow the district “to sell and transfer its wastewater utility assets” to the larger company.

WVAWA previously was granted Commission authority to acquire service to the district’s 1,120 water customers in Fayette County. In a separate decision last year, the Commission determined the district was a failing utility. This is the third Commission-approved order for WVAWA, which is primarily a water company, to acquire a troubled sewer district.

The payment was listed as bond indebtedness of $964,0000 and $350,000 owed to the Boone County Commission, the order said. The company offered employment to the district’s workers.

The water company had included in its application a 297-page engineering report that said the district’s treatment plant and water station upgrades would cost $1.8 million.

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