Mount Olive awarded $7.3M for sewer improvements

MOUNT OLIVE — The town of Mount Olive is among the recipients of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) Community Development Block – Infrastructure (CDBG-I) grants announced last week by Governor Josh Stain and DEQ, receiving a total of $7,363,920 for sewer improvements.

The first grant, in the amount of $2,957,800, will finance improvements to the sewer infrastructure to meet community and housing needs. This includes the rehabilitation or replacement of approximately 14,400 linear feet of existing eight-inch sewer lines and 40 manholes.

According to town documents, the project will address the replacement of approximately 265 existing service laterals within the public right-of-way to connect existing customers to the upgraded infrastructure.

The work will either replace the old sewer lines with new pipes or rehabilitate them using cured-in-place pipes to serve around 220 occupied households. If six-inch gravity sewers are discovered, they will be upgraded to eight inches to comply with current regulations. According to the town’s Asset Inventory Assessment, the existing pipes are in poor condition, mostly made of vitrified clay and brick manholes, both of which are outdated.

“Street flooding is a common issue in the project area and the poor condition of these sewers allows them to be a source of infiltration and inflow,” said David Harris with Harris & Associates during a public hearing addressing the funding application for the grant last September.

These repairs will help reduce infiltration and inflow from this section of the sewer system, subsequently decreasing the risk of overflows downstream on the main sewer interceptor and at the wastewater treatment facility. Although these overflows occur at locations far from the project area, flow monitoring has shown elevated flows from the project area during rain events. Overflows have reached surface waters multiple times, as documented by violation notices.

Streets in which sewer line rehabilitation or replacement will take place include:

• East Nelson Street from 325 E. Nelson St. to Oliver Street,

• Cobb Street from East Nelson Street to Silver Street,

• Silver Street from Cobb Street to Oliver Street,

• East Hillsboro Street from Oliver Street to South Beems Street,

• Oliver Street from Franklin Street to East Nelson Street,

• Oliver Street from Silver Street to South Johnson Street,

• East Slocumb Street from South Center Street to Connor Street,

• E. Kornegay Street from South Center Street to Milford Street,

• Milford Street from East Kornegay Street to end,

• South Church Street from East Maple Street to East Pollock Street,

• East Pollock Street from South Center Street to South Church Street,

• East Pollock Street from South Johnson Street to South Jefferson Street,

• East Williamson Street from South Church Street to South Johnson Street,

• South Johnson Street from East Williamson Street to East Main Street,

• North Johnson Street from East Main Street to East James Street,

• East James Street from 215 E. James St. to North Jefferson Street,

• North Jefferson Street from East James Street to 105 N. Jefferson St.,

• East Main Street from North Church Street to North Jefferson Street,

• South Jefferson Street from East Pollock Street to East Main Street,

• Gordon Street from Oliver Street to 321 Gordon St.

The project’s design phase is expected to be completed by spring 2026, with construction scheduled to start in mid-July 2026.