Fish Kill due to Waste/Sewage Spill on Elm Fork, Trinity River

Came across this the other day while fishing, always sad to see this kind of thing. Everything in this stretch of river was dead, sunfish, shad, bass, crappie, all species of catfish, carp, buffalo, drum, etc. Saw a couple of really nice carp and buffalo (20+!) and some good size cats as well (30+). What a shame.



The water was a sickly brown color, hardly any visibility and it gave off a disgusting smell, even accounting for the rotting fish.

The last remnants of life, struggling amongst the dead.



Probably a grand total of a little over a dozen fish left in this stretch.



Nice sized Flathead





Nice sized Drum

Now, I did call and report this to the fish kill/spill service in Austin, but was waiting to see if any news organizations reported on it. So far, I haven't seen a single story. It tears me up knowing that the few spills/sewage leaks we do hear about are probably but a fraction of what is really occurring.

For those curious, the lady in Austin gave me a phone number and a case number to call and check back on it. Here they are:
1-800-792-1112 ext 8165
Case #20180116

I also have a few other photos that I didn't put up here contained in this album: https://imgur.com/a/YdiWih1

On a lighter note, I was able to go downstream a bit and moved a couple of fish upstream of the spill. They likely wouldn't have made it otherwise. Nabbed two new species in the process!



Finally got that Flathead! Hopefully one day he'll become a giant!



Not quite sure what this was, but it's definitely new! I got five of 'em.

Also moved 2 bass, a handful of channel catfish, about a dozen carp, quite a few shad/sunfish, and a white crappie. Saw a koi as well but just couldn't get him.

Are u sure it was a sewage spill, i mean its likely as it happens more then some want to believe.

With this heat and temperature it is likely that was caused by natural circumstances. Oxygen level goes down as heat rises. River flow is low, river is also very fertile. If flow stops algae bloom can cause this.

Not sure it was sewage per se, but definitely a spill of some sort. The lady on the phone even confirmed it. There was some waste leaking from a pipe into the river for some time. I actually saw where it first started, there's a discharge just below/to the side of the spillway, and the water there was the same about a week ago before it rained. All of the fish in that discharge pool were dead, but I thought it was just the heat as well until it rained and whatever was in that pool moved downriver, killing all of the fish there.

In this particular stretch of river, the flow is hardly ever present unless there is a good rain. There are isolated pools both above and below where the spill occurred, most much smaller than the area pictured. You'd think if it was an oxygen deprivation thing, that all of the smaller pools would've gone first as they'd heat up a lot faster, right?

Pictures not showing up on my computer for some reason. Which spillway/part of the elm fork? I am assuming this is below Frazier?

Eric

Harry Hines Spillway


Purple - Spillway
Yellow - Discharge, original site of spill
Red - Location of fish kill pictured

32°50'29.42" N 96°53'23.03" W - Spillway
32°50'25.70" N 96°53'27.39" W - Discharge
32°50'4.72" N 96°53'21.86" W - Fish Kill

You could try going into my Imgur album to take a look at the photos, it should work for ya.
https://imgur.com/a/YdiWih1

Diagnosing the cause of fish kills is tricky. Most of the time, oxygen depletion is what ultimately kills the fish but the oxygen depletion may only be one factor in the big picture. In this case, it could be toxic pollution directly harming the fish, or the pollutant may have only been harmful to algae which caused a bloom collapse and subsequent oxygen depletion. It's also not uncommon for the dominant "algae's" growing this time of year to be potentially toxic cyanobacteria so a bloom crash from pollution would produce the triple whammy of oxygen depletion, toxin release from the dead cyanobacteria and whatever effects the pollution had directly on the fish all rolled in together. Without being on the scene as the kill is happening and running tests immediately, it can be hard to determine exactly what triggered the kill. Hopefully one of the agencies will investigate it properly and find the real source of the problem.

That's what I was thinking.


But for the OP, the state will send out a Game Warden and probably a biologist to have a look. The biologist may likely collect some samples. But it will take a little time to get results. There may also be an investigation underway.

If there is an investigation they aren't going to tell you until it is complete. It's been overcast several days this week,that was one of the contributing factors to a number of fish kills on Fairfield and several other lakes in years past. Hopefully they do find out if this a pollution event.

Hopefully they figure it out. Seeing all of those fish that could have potentially been on the end of my line ticks me off, and I'm somewhat hoping it was pollution just so I have someone to shake my fist at other than God.

That's terrible, went to a local creek to nab some sunnies saturday, only to find them floating dead by the hundreds, majority of them 7 to 9 inch range

Thank you...very much...for this report. I have called them to voice my concerns. That stretch of the river is popular for bank fishermen and alot of peeps harvest fish out of there.

Agreed. Sad to see such large fish dead and not fighting on the end of my line.

Thank you for catching and releasing the few fish that you could. A little bit by one person can make a difference.