Heavy rain on Monday led to more than 6 million gallons of sewer overflow discharges dumped into the Connecticut River in Holyoke, Mass., the city announced.

As a result, residents in the area are advised to avoid contact with the Connecticut River for 48 hours, beginning Monday morning, "due to increased health risks from bacteria and other pollutants."

"These discharges may have negative water quality impacts downstream including the Connecticut River adjacent to your community," a notification on the Holyoke city website said. "Swimming, fishing, boating and other uses which may involve water contact is discouraged."

Still, Paul Copleman, a spokesperson for Connecticut's Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, said the discharges shouldn't affect Connecticut residents, even those in towns near the Massachusetts border, such as Enfield.

"By the time the CT River flows down to CT from MA, we don't believe that the MA overflows will have any direct impact on CT residents," Copleman wrote in an email.

Holyoke regularly discharges large amounts of rainwater that include treated sewage and untreated sewage into the river when storms overwhelm the city's sewage system. Following a Massachusetts law enacted last year, such discharges and overflows must be publicly reported.

In March, the city of Holyoke entered into a consent decree with federal and state environmental agencies to reduce the discharges in compliance with the Clean Water Act and state law.

On Monday, Holyoke announced it had discharged an estimated 6,302,890 gallons into various sites along the river following rainfall from the previous night.

Though sewage overflows have been particularly common in Holyoke due to outdated infrastructure there, some Connecticut cities experience the same issue, leading to large-scale flooding during storms. According to DEEP, the issue has been exacerbated in recent years by increased rainfall linked to climate change.

In the wake of major storms, some water treatment facilities in Connecticut have discharged large amounts untreated sewage into the Connecticut River, similar to what happens regularly in Holyoke.

In his email, Copleman said Connecticut residents are more impacted by sewage overflows happening "closer to home" than by those in Holyoke and that DEEP advises residents to stay out of the water near overflow areas when it rains.