Drainage to be improved at animal shelter

by Jazz Clark
The Morgan County Commissioners decided at their Thursday, October 18 meeting to replace the piping and drainage system at the county’s animal control facility on Rt. 9, east of Berkeley Springs.

They agreed to pay the quoted price of $4,623 from Steve Keller of Mountain View Plumbing, using the carry-over portion of the commission budget.

All commissioners were in agreement that a better system is necessary.

“It was just something that needed to be done,” Commissioner Brad Close said.

The major cost is installing drains to each individual kennel.

“We need individual drains so that when we clean them, the waste doesn’t pass through each stall,” said County Administrator Jody McClintock. “If one of the dogs in the first few stalls is sick, the debris will go through all the other kennels before going out the final drain.”

The drains have had to be professionally snaked twice by Mountain View over the last few months due to debris getting caught, McClintock said.

“We have some 90-degree angles in there and in plumbing that’s typically not a good thing,” McClintock said.

“The county asked me to make a plan in an effort to make the kennels more sanitary,” said Mountain View Plumbing owner Keller.

Complaints of leakage to the yard should be alleviated by the new system, he said.

“A drain on the outside has exposed coupling, which leads to leaking,” Keller said. “The pipes are too small and not vented properly. Fixing that should help the leakage problem.”

He said the current kennels were “trough-style,” which increases the chance of cross-contamination.

Updating the drainage system was on a list of recommendations from the National Humane Society, Close said.