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Severed septic line sparks closure of Jones Hole Creek in Dinosaur National Monument

Popular fishing waters and hiking trail will remain off-limits while fecal coliform contamination levels remain a health concern; officials vow to ’work quickly to correct the situation.’

(Courtesy of National Park Service) ​​Jones Hole Creek in Dinosaur National Monument. The park service announced Thursday that the popular recreation area has been temporarily closed due to a broken septic line.

The popular fishing waters of Jones Hole Creek in eastern Utah’s Dinosaur National Monument have been closed to recreation after a broken septic line fouled parts of the waterway.

In an announcement Thursday, National Park Service officials said the temporary closure included bans on angling, hiking and swimming along a 4.25-mile length of the creek and adjacent trail, extending from Jones Hole Fish Hatchery to the Green River.

Monument staff learned Wednesday afternoon of the effluent discharge, sparked by a septic line break at the hatchery, NPS officials said. The leak has pushed fecal coliform counts near the discharge point to nearly six times the bacterial levels considered worthy of health warnings by the Utah Department of Environmental Quality, the announcement said.

On the advice of the U.S. Public Health Service, the NPS said, all waters of Jones Hole Creek remain closed to recreation until further notice and monument workers have put up temporary signs warning visitors.

The fish hatchery and its parking area have also been temporarily closed to prevent visitors from getting access to trailheads for the Jones Hole and Island Park trails, the NPS said.

In a separate release from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, hatchery manager Kip Bottomley apologized for the septic leak and the closure, and vowed to “work quickly to correct the situation.″  He said repair work on the line would begin as soon as a contractor has been chosen.

The monument’s Quarry Visitor Center and Dinosaur Quarry Exhibit Hall are unaffected by the closures and will remain open at their usual hours, officials said.

Meanwhile, officials said water-quality monitoring tests were being conducted regularly below the fish hatchery, and the area will reopen when contamination levels drop below recommended levels.