OVRDC Seeks Engineering Firms for Vinton County Infrastructure Design Project

The Ohio Valley Regional Development Commission published a Request for Proposals on March 10, seeking qualified engineering firms to lead a water storage tank replacement project in the Village of Zaleski, a small Vinton County community tucked along State Route 677 in the heart of the Raccoon Creek watershed.

The RFP calls for a full scope of professional engineering services, including final design, bidding assistance, and construction administration. OVRDC, the regional planning and development agency serving a 10-county swath of southeastern Ohio, is coordinating the procurement on behalf of Zaleski as the project moves from planning into its design phase.

The project carries backing from the Appalachian Regional Commission, the federal-state partnership that funds infrastructure investment across the 13-state Appalachian region. That support positions Zaleski's water system upgrade within a broader federal effort to close the infrastructure gap in economically distressed communities across southeastern Ohio.

For Zaleski, whose water infrastructure serves a village population that has long contended with the economic pressures common to rural Appalachian Ohio, a functioning and modernized water storage tank is a foundational public health and fire safety asset. Tank replacement projects of this kind typically involve decommissioning aging steel or concrete structures and constructing a new elevated or ground-level storage facility sized to meet current demand and fire flow standards.

Engineering firms interested in submitting qualifications and proposals should consult the RFP published by OVRDC on March 10. The two-day window since publication means the submission deadline has not yet passed, and firms with experience in rural water system infrastructure in Appalachian Ohio would be well positioned to respond.