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.