A power failure that occurred early Sunday morning at a wastewater treatment facility in Fall River, Mass. was responsible for about 10 million gallons of partially treated wastewater and stormwater being released into Mt. Hope Bay — prompting Rhode Island DEM to close two shellfish growing areas in Warren and Bristol for a week as a precautionary measure.

Announced on Twitter Sunday morning, DEM reported that the Fall River plant had reported the incident immediately after becoming aware of it, and had restored power by 11 a.m. that same day.

DEM’s Director of Public Affairs, Michael Healey, said on Monday that the agency does not anticipate any risks or threats to residents of the East Bay as a result of the spill, which contained around 6 million gallons of partially treated stormwater and 4 million gallons of chlorinated wastewater (meaning that most harmful pathogens had been treated from the wastewater prior to its expulsion into the water).

“We would say there would be a very, very minimal impact because of dispersion,” Healey said. “The tidal action of Mt. Hope Bay fairly quickly moves that discharged water out to Narragansett Bay and then, at that point, Narragansett Bay is a conduit to convey water to the ocean. We think there would be a very small impact, if any.”

Still, as a precaution, DEM closed Shellfish Growing Area 5 (which sits within the Kickemuit River in Warren), and Growing Area 17 (which runs along the southeastern coast of Bristol) from all shellfishing activity until Sunday, April 30 (one week from the incident’s occurrence).

A majority of Mt. Hope Bay is already prohibited from shellfishing activities year round, Healey noted, in part as a protective measure for instances such as this recent spill.