KC plant dumped untreated wastewater into Blue River

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Authorities overseeing a Kansas City wastewater treatment plant have confirmed that a storm-driven power outage over the weekend forced the plant to dump several million gallons of untreated wastewater into the Blue River.

The KC Water Blue River Wastewater Treatment Plant dumped about 42.5 million gallons (160.88 million liters) of untreated wastewater from Saturday afternoon into early Sunday, the Kansas City Star reported.

That came to a rate of about 3.4 million gallons (12.87 million liters) an hour, KC Water spokeswoman Heather Frierson said.

The Blue River begins in Johnson County, Kansas, and flows across the state line before connecting with the Missouri River.