Body contact with the St. Joseph River between the Broadway Street and Withers Road bridges in Three Rivers is still not advised as of Tuesday afternoon, city Wastewater Superintendent Taylor Davis said.

Davis gave more information about Monday’s discharge of approximately 50,000 gallons of untreated wastewater into the river. Three Rivers previously reported the sanitary sewer overflow was due to complications during the transition to the new pump station on Broadway Street.

“When we went to switch to the new pump station, there was an obstruction in a line, which we have not found yet,” David said. “We had already abandoned the old line, so then the system filled up before we got the bypass pump going, and that’s why it overflowed.”

The obstruction is in the City of Three Rivers Wastewater Treatment Plant, Davis said. As of Tuesday, the plan was to continue bypass pumping until that afternoon.

“They’re gonna start digging to see where the obstruction is,” Davis said.

Three Rivers is getting new pump stations and a prescreen building, which is the same term for a wastewater plant, Davis said. The pump stations were completed before the prescreen building.

“They have to hook up the new lines to the old lines, into the old prescreen building,” Davis said. “The old line that they hooked up to is where the obstruction is. We just don’t know why there’s an obstruction, or if there was a valve that was buried years ago. That’s what happened here.”

The overflow was identified Monday afternoon. From there, the public was advised to avoid using the St. Joseph River for recreational activities, and also to keep animals out of the water.

“The advisory is in effect until water samples from the river have been analyzed and demonstrate that coliform levels are back at normally expected amounts,” the advisory states.

Davis said the results won’t be back until 7 p.m. Tuesday at the earliest. Meanwhile, anyone who made contact with the river after Monday afternoon is advised to take a shower and wash any clothing they wore.

“If you have concerns about your health, contact your provider,” the advisory states.

Frank Stanko is a staff writer for Watershed Voice.