NATCHEZ — Work to repair a depression that formed at the intersection of Main and Canal streets because of water and sewer leaks was expected to have wrapped up Monday.

Water Works Superintendent and City Engineer David Gardner said the city was able to get asphalt Monday and pave the portion of the street that had to be taken up to repair water and sewer leaks.

A sewer leak and multiple water leaks were found after crews inspected a depression that formed in the street last week.

Crews placed couplings around the joints to stop the leaks. But when the water was turned back on, the crews found more water leaking in a different place.

The depression in the road was caused, Gardner said, because the leaking water moved the supporting soil into the sewer line.

Gardner said the work is fairly routine, as Water Works generally repairs leaks to the system every day. He said residents and drivers likely took notice of the work more because it was in a high-traffic area downtown.

Natchez Convention Center Director Walter Tipton said although the work stretched over several days, it did not negatively impact the convention center, which housed last weekend’s Natchez Literary and Cinema Celebration.

“It has not inconvenienced us at all,” Tipton said. “We (were) mostly just cleaning and organizing (Monday), and I saw they were putting the asphalt out, so that’s good news.”

Down the street and corner of Canal and Jefferson streets, Gardner said crews are working to spray concrete in the canal under the street as part of the ongoing North Natchez Drainage Street Project.

Crews had to create a manhole large enough for workers to get under the street to spray the concrete, which will stabilize a weak spot discovered in the canal.

Gardner said weather permitting, the work could be finished as early as Thursday. Similar work was done on the underground canal near where the depression formed at Main and Canal, which Gardner said may have prevented the depression from becoming a sinkhole, as has happened in the past on Canal Street.

“You really don’t know if that would have happened, but I think (spraying the concrete) really helped out in mitigating any kind of sinkholes that could have formed there,” Gardner said.