St. Maries River Stretch Still Closed

Contamination levels are still too high to make the St. Maries River below Fernwood safe for human use.

The river was contaminated earlier this week when the sewage lift station for Fernwood malfunctioned. Pumps located about 50 feet from the river spilled about 120,000 gallons of sewage onto the ground.

Low levels of E. coli bacteria were later detected in the 20-mile stretch of river between Fernwood and St. Maries. The levels were high enough for the Idaho Division of Environmental Quality to warn the public to stay away from that stretch of river.

This is the second time this year the Fernwood pumps have malfunctioned and spilled sewage near the river.