ELIZABETHTOWN — It seems as though an inordinate amount of mud-slinging has been going on this election year, but dirt is being thrown around in Bladen County too — well, it’s piling up anyway, and passersby may have noticed a huge mound of it in front of San Jose.

Elizabethtown’s Public Works department started work April 11 on a broken sewer line and began the project by digging huge holes on both sides of the street between Subway and Food Lion.

Public Works Director Pat DeVane explained, “Food Lion had indicated quite a while ago that there were some slight problems, and we’ve been doing maintenance on the problem on a weekly or monthly basis for about a year or two. We did some camera work and determined that the line had a belly in it that was sagging and held sewage all the time, so that’s what we’re repairing.”

The work is part of the Elizabethtown Downtown Sewer Rehabilitation Project, and multi-year effort to improve the water and wastewater production in town.

“This was one of the areas that was deemed to be problematic in the past, and we’ve been planning this project for a while, but with easements and working with the Department of Transportation to go under the highway, it takes a little bit longer,” said DeVane.

The Rehabilitation Project is nearing its completion, as reported by DeVane at a recent town council meeting. Outstanding work includes abandoning old sewer lines and completing asphalt repair work on damaged streets.

In an unrelated incident, the public works department was also busy Wednesday and Thursday repairing a water main break beside the Jiffy Lube on Peanut Plant Road.

“It was an unexpected event,” said DeVane. “We’re not really sure what happened. It’s possible that it broke down in the past and finally failed, but a fire hydrant near there was also knocked over. No one has admitted to it, but it’s possible that a car damaged it — we’re not really sure what happened.”

Crews finished work on the water line Thursday and are expected to complete work on the sewer line by Tuesday.

Chrysta Carroll can be reached by calling 910-862-4163.

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By Chrysta Carroll

ccarroll@civitasmedia.com