5 months ago
ATLANTA (AP) -- Officials say they've been closely monitoring water quality in the Chattahoochee River and other waterways affected by the rainstorms that struck Georgia and other states in the Southeast.
While floodwaters have receded, state and federal officials say it will be weeks before waterways are free of sewage and sediment.
Sally Bethea with the Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper environmental group says federal officials tested the river and found the E. coli bacteria level was 42 times greater than the highest safe level.
Atlanta city officials say they don't know when their R.M. Clayton sewage treatment plant, which was swamped by the flood, will be fully functional again. The plant was partly restored to service last week.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
