No swimming or fishing in South Jersey creek after sewage spill

South Jersey residents are being advised to not swim or fish in the Big Timber Creek and its tributaries after a power outage caused sewage to spill into the waterway separating Camden and Gloucester Counties.

Camden County said the spill occurred after the Camden County Municipal Utility Authority pump station on Chews Landing Road in Gloucester Township lost power for 90 minutes Sunday, starting at about 3:30 p.m.

Besides Gloucester Township, municipalities downriver on the creek include Runnemede, Bellmawr, Brooklawn, Deptford and Westville. The Little Timber Creek, which empties into the same cove on the Delaware River as the Big Timber Creek, also could be affected. That waterway runs through Booklawn, Gloucester City, Bellmawr and Mount Ephraim.

The state Department of Environmental Protection, the Camden County Health Department and the CCMUA will monitor the waterways for "the next several weeks," Camden County said in a statement.