FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 23, 2012
Contact: Robbie Wilbur
601/961-5277
MDEQ ISSUES TEMPORARY ADVISORY FOR PELAHATCHIE CREEK IN MORTON
(JACKSON, Miss.) –The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) issued a temporary water contact advisory today for a three mile section of Pelahatchie Creek in Morton. This advisory applies to the stream from Moore Street (Old Highway 481) downstream to U.S. Highway 80. MDEQ recommends that people avoid water contact recreation such as swimming or wading in these waters. In addition, people should avoid eating fish from this area of the stream until further notice.
This precautionary advisory is being issued as a result of the discharge of an estimated 50,000 to 100,000 gallons of untreated wastewater near the creek due to a malfunction in a control valve. The city has corrected the problem, and much of the released wastewater has been contained and will be recovered before it enters the creek. The amount of wastewater that actually made it to the creek is unknown at this time.
MDEQ staff has begun monitoring bacteria levels in the stream and will revise the advisory as needed.
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