Iowa Department of Natural Resources
Environmental Services Division

For Immediate Release                                                 
March 13, 2007

1. DNR investigating manure release, fish kill at Twelve Mile Lake
in Emmet County
2. Rapid snowmelt is challenging some wastewater treatment
facilities

DNR INVESTIGATING MANURE RELEASE, FISH KILL AT TWELVE MILE LAKE IN
EMMET COUNTY

MEDIA CONTACT: Tom Roos at (712) 262-4177

WALLINGFORD — The DNR is investigating a manure release and fish kill
at Twelve Mile Lake in Emmet County Tuesday afternoon.

The fish kill cannot be directly attributed to runoff from the feedlot,
as the fish appear to have been dead for weeks, according to DNR
environmental investigators and fisheries staff.

About 1,000 dead bullheads and 100 minnows were found along the
southeast side of the shallow lake, not far from where manure runoff was
entering the lake. The fish likely died from low oxygen levels over the
winter, according to Jim Berquist with DNR fisheries.

The lake is only about four feet deep and spent the past few weeks
covered with about 16 inches of snow and ice, which limits the amount of
oxygen available to fish. Because of unsafe ice conditions, DNR
fisheries staff was unable to test the lake’s dissolved oxygen levels
on Tuesday. Fisheries staff will further investigate the fish kill once
the ice goes out of the lake, Berquist said.

A concerned citizen reported the manure release to the DNR Tuesday
morning. Snow melt is washing manure directly into the lake from a
500-head open cattle feedlot located just off the lake’s southeast
shore. The feedlot, owned by Robert Ness, has no controls designed to
hold manure on the feedlot and out of the lake.

“This manure release shows how important manure controls are in
keeping our lakes and streams clean,” said Tom Roos, an environmental
specialist in the DNR’s Spencer field office. “It’s also a
reminder to Iowans to report manure releases like this one to the DNR.
We cover large areas of the state, so we depend on Iowans to be our eyes
and ears.”

Roos added that the significant snowmelt happening in most of the state
is a good opportunity for producers to check manure controls on their
feedlots.

“Now is the perfect time to check if manure from your feedlot is
reaching a stream or lake,” he said. “If it is, it’s time to start
working on improving or installing new manure controls. The DNR can help
with that.”

Ness is placing straw bales to reduce the amount of manure reaching the
lake and will work with the DNR to install necessary manure controls.

The DNR will continue to investigate and may consider possible
enforcement action regarding the manure release.

To report a manure release, call the DNR’s spill hotline at (515)
281-8694.

Writer: Jessie Brown

# # #

RAPID SNOWMELT IS CHALLENGING SOME WASTEWATER TREATMENT FACILTIES

MEDIA CONTACTS: Kevin Baskins at (515) 281-8395

DES MOINES — At least four Iowa cities have had to bypass untreated
sewage into streams because of the rapid snowmelt and excess water
flowing into their facilities.

The city of Audubon began bypassing Tuesday into Blue Grass Creek after
two pumps were unable to keep up with the excess water from snowmelt.
Because of the high flow and mixture of excess water, the long-term
impact to the stream is expected to be minimal, but the city will be
doing water sampling to measure impacts.

The Audubon wastewater treatment plant had a history of fish kills and
high ammonia in the late 1990s. A plant upgrade was completed in
September 2003, resulting in greatly improved effluent quality.

The city of Wellsburg was using an emergency pump on Tuesday to prevent
wastewater from backing up into the basements of homes and businesses,
diverting the water to South Beaver Creek. Excess water was overloading
one of the city’s pumping stations. The city plans to pump only what
is necessary to keep basements from backing up and then return to
regular pumping into the lagoon as soon as possible.

Excess flow from snow melt off was causing two basins as part of the
city of Eldora’s treatment system to overflow into the Iowa River on
Tuesday.

In Keokuk, a collapsed line was causing sewage to flow into Soap Creek
at a rate of approximately five gallons per minute. The city had hired a
contractor on Tuesday to dig up the line and make repairs.

The bypassing underscores the importance of being able to keep storm
water out of the wastewater treatment collection system as much as
possible, said Kirk Mathis, an environmental specialist in the DNR’s
Atlantic field office.

“Cities need to take steps to eliminate sources of inflow and
infiltration into the sanitary sewer system, such as storm sewers, sump
pumps, foundation and roof drains, that are connected to the sanitary
sewer to prevent the system from becoming overloaded when we have heavy
run-off from a rainstorm or snowmelt,” Mathis said.

Writer: Kevin Baskins

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