Winchester Municipal Utilities has advertised for bids for the construction of a new water treatment plant near Lower Howard’s Creek.

The plant — which will be constructed at 7055 Boonesboro Road adjacent to the Lower Howards Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant — will replace the aging water treatment facility on Waterworks Road.

The old plant was originally constructed in 1891 with the last major upgrade happening in 1974. It is rated for a flow of 5 million gallons per day.

The new plant will have a flow capacity of 9 million gallons. 

Bids will be accepted until the opening date, 2 p.m. Sept. 8.

“This is a big step for us moving forward,” WMU General Manager Mike Flynn said. 

A pre-bid meeting will be hosted by WMU August 29, where officials will answer any questions bidders have about the project.

Flynn said WMU had to be strategic when selecting when to bid the project because of other projects going on in the region.

“We kind of moved the date around a little bit,” he said. “There was some other big jobs bidding in the surrounding areas, and we wanted to get some very competitive bids. In order to do that we sort of adjusted the dates so the bid wouldn’t be coming out on  the same date as other jobs.”

Flynn said that if all goes well during the construction phases of the project, he hopes the water plant will be operational in January of 2020.

In other business, the board of commissioners:

— Approved a change order to a contract for painting fire hydrants to include 56 more hydrants.

— Approved the termination of driver/collector Michael Cracraft.