Alabama Tyson Foods Plant Waste Water Spill Spreads E. Coli in Rivers

Alabama environmental officials say another waste water spill from a Tyson Foods plant has contaminated rivers with E. coli and killed an untold number of fish.

News outlets report up to 800,000 gallons of waste water spilled last week from the Tyson Foods Inc. River Valley Ingredients plant. Tyson blames pipe failure. The mess flowed into the Sipsey Fork and Mulberry Fork rivers. Cleanup crews this week found E. coli levels twice the safe amount allowed by the state.

Riverkeeper Nelson Brooke told WBMA the same facility under a previous owner was fined just $19,000 for killing 40,000 fish in an acid spill in 2016.

Environmental officials said Tyson Foods hired an emergency response coordinator to recover as much of the waste water as possible.