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Fish will die in Taum Sauk clean up, DNR says

The failure caused 1.5 billion gallons of water to be released (UPI photo/Bill Greenblatt)
The failure caused 1.5 billion gallons of water to be released (UPI photo/Bill Greenblatt)

By AP/KWMU

St. Louis, MO – The clean up effort near the Taum Sauk reservoir will probably kill some fish. The Department of Natural Resources says fish are likely to die as water levels drop at Taum Sauk's lower reservoir.

The lake is being lowered so crews can clean up sediments deposited there by the failure last year of the upper Taum Sauk reservoir.

Ameren owns the reservoirs, and contractors have so far rescued more than 2,500 fish as the water levels drop.

But the reservoir is expected to be almost empty by the end of this week, which will probably kill the remaining fish because of a lack of oxygen and warm temperatures. The hydroelectric reservoirs are run by St. Louis-based Ameren.

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