For immediate release: July 29, 2009

BROKEN MAIN SENDS WASTEWATER INTO BIG SPIRIT LAKE

MEDIA CONTACT: Ken Hessenius, DNR Spencer field office at (712) 260-0926 or Neil Cook, DNR Spencer field office, at (712) 262-4177 or [log in to unmask] 

SPIRIT LAKE - A broken sewer main near Spirit Lake is responsible for untreated wastewater entering Big Spirit Lake.

The Iowa Great Lakes Sanitary District discovered the problem Wednesday and reported it to the DNR at 3:15 p.m. Wastewater from the broken underground main was reaching the surface of the ground in a roadside ditch, then flowing through a tile line into the lake.

The wastewater was entering the water at the southwest corner of Big Spirit Lake. 

The sanitary district does not know when the discharge began or how much wastewater may have reached the lake. It has shut down an upstream pumping station to end the discharge and make repairs to the main on Wednesday evening. The sanitary district has also applied lime to the ground around the break and where the tile discharges at the lakeshore to disinfect those areas.

The DNR has notified the Spirit Lake water supply of the discharge. The DNR also recommends that people avoid bodily contact with the water or ingesting the water in the immediate area where the tile line discharges into the lake.


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