Broken Illinois Line Dumping Sewage Into Mississippi River

GRANITE CITY, Ill. (AP) — Authorities say a sewer line in southern Illinois broke last month and daily is dumping about 2 million gallons of storm water and sewage into the Mississippi River.

The Belleville News-Democrat reported Friday (http://bit.ly/2t3KVEi ) that the Metro East Sanitary District break happened just north of St. Louis. John Hamm is the mayor of Madison, across the river from St. Louis in Illinois. Hamm says the break happened May 9 and can’t be fixed until river level drops because the line is near a levee. The Army Corps of Engineers says digging near the levee before the water level drops could cause a breach.

Sanitary district executive director Steve Adler says equipment is pre-positioned so crews can fix the line as soon as the water level falls