BELTON, Texas — The City of Belton has a stinky situation on it's hands.
About 1.3 million gallons of sewage spilled into Nolan Creek, The City of Belton said in a release on Wednesday.
Wednesday the city was able to switch from a two pipe system to one pipe so that the broken pipe didn't put anymore waste into Nolan Creek.
There still is no cause to the massive leak but the city is working with contractors to find a fix to make sure something this extensive doesn't happen again. 6 News was not told how it was going to be fixed Thursday evening.
The Brazos River Authority, which manages the plant for Temple and Belton, notified the City about the leak, which was discovered due to abnormally low sewage flows from the City into the treatment plant Wednesday morning, per officials.
Sewage leaks happen from time to time but City of Belton spokesperson Paul Romer says they've never had a leak of this size.
"This leak occurred between a lift station and a plant so it was funneling all of the sewage from the city into the plant which is why it was more substantial than normal," he explained.
Romer says luckily the leak happened in an area with many mitigating factors and was in a remote area on private land.
When the sewage leaked was close to the wastewater treatment plant and the Leon River which both helped dilute the substances.
"It's still a concern and people should avoid the creek or around that area until the test results come back and show that E.coli levels are stabilized," Romer explained.
In a statement to 6 News Thursday evening, The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) said:
"The Waco Region has initiated an investigation and were on-scene November 17. Investigators evaluated the creek, and the creek appeared clear with no visible impacts to vegetation or wildlife."
Romer also warned that fishermen should avoid any dead or dying fish and to be sure to properly clean and cook any fish that are caught.