Project manager Richard Stillwell provides directions for connecting the new Dillsboro sewer lines to the existing system. The sewer lines are attached to the right-hand side of the Dillsboro bridge, while the water lines are attached to the left-hand side. "It took about 600 feet to go from one end of the bridge to the other," Stillwell said. The water lines connected to the existing lines that stopped just below River Park Apartments. For the sewer lines, a pump station was installed on Department of Transportation property next to Gordon Batten's business just across the bridge. Previous plans called for the lines to be buried under the river, but after the endangered Appalachian Elktoe mussel was discovered there, those plans had to be scrapped, said Jerry King, Tuckaseigee Water and Sewer Authority executive director. The $372,000 project is funded through Rural Utilities Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Stillwell estimates the project will be complete by mid-March. - Herald photo by Rose Hooper |