Authorities say a sewer line in southern Illinois broke last month and daily is dumping about 2 million gallons of storm water and sewage into the Mississippi River.
The Belleville News-Democrat report the Metro East Sanitary District break happened just north of St. Louis.
John Hamm is the mayor of Madison, Illinois. Hamm says the break happened May 9 and can't be fixed until river level drops because the line is near a levee. The Army Corps of Engineers says digging near the levee before the water level drops could cause a breach.
Sanitary district executive director Steve Adler says equipment is pre-positioned so crews can fix the line as soon as the water level falls.
