FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — On a day when many love to enjoy being on the water, one of metro Atlanta's most popular rivers is being impacted by E. coli contamination.
This Fourth of July, the Chattahoochee River is partially closed due to E. coli concerns. The bacteria was first discovered last week in portions of the river.
Even though Fulton County has been working to sanitize the water, the E. coli contamination is still impacting a 15-mile stretch of the river.
It's putting a damper on some holiday water activities but businesses adjusted to make festivities work.
“We have a second operation down below Morgan Falls Dam. We were able to close down that second operation,” said Britt Oxford, the operations manager for the Nantahala Outdoor Center (NOC).
He says the E. coli contamination pushed the touring and tubing business upstream to its second location.
“We moved most of the reservations that we had pre-booked for the weekend up to this section of the river. So now we’re on the section of river that does not have the contamination," he explained. "We’ve had a really good weekend. A lot of people have been on the river that last couple of days."
Daphaney Davis and her family were just one of the families shifting gears to the second location on the Fourth of July.
“We were initially booked at the other location and they called this morning to say it’s not ready yet. Then they told us they can accommodate us at a different spot," Davis added saying the solution worked for her.
So on one side of the river, it was a typical holiday spent on the Hooch.
“We wanted to do something as a family to get out, get on the tubing and enjoy the river enjoy the good vibes, it’s peaceful," Lea Carter said.
And there was no shortage of grilling, boating and plenty of tubing.
“We had a great time, we love doing the river tubing,” Mike McNally said.
As for the other side of the river, a disinfection plan is being rolled out to make it safe.
Officials are still sanitizing it and diverting wastewater to be processed at a plant using UV. Crews were bringing in about 12 truckloads of bugs to help with the natural cleaning process as well.