Swimming now OK for Middle Fork of Yuba River, but South Fork still unsafe

WASHINGTON, Calif. (KTVU) - The no-swim advisory for part of the middle fork of the Yuba River has been lifted, officials said Sunday evening, although it remains in effect for the South Fork from the town of Washington to Englebright Lake.

The murky, yellowish water conditions seen in the water Saturday have disappeared, according to the Yuba County Office of Emergency Services.

Yuba County Environmental Health Team crew members returned from their survey of the Middle Fork that began down toward Missouri Bar and then continued back up to the Colgate Power Plant. They found that the yellowish sediment that appeared in the water was nowhere to be found on Sunday, the emergency services department wrote in a Facebook post.

As for the source of the original murkiness? The team spoke to someone who indicated there may have been a small mining operation that caused sediment to be stirred up, creating the discoloration of that stretch of the Yuba River Middle Fork, according to the post.