(Spirit Lake)– A broken sewer main has resulted in an unknown amount of raw sewage getting into Big Spirit Lake, and the city of Spirit Lake’s water treatment plant has been notified of the situation.
That word from officials with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, who say the Iowa Great Lakes Sanitary District discovered the problem and reported it to the DNR around 3:15 p.m. Wednesday.
The DNR says wastewater from a broken underground main was reaching the surface of the ground in a roadside ditch, then flowed through a tile line and into Big Spirit Lake. Officials say the wastewater was entering the southwest side of the lake.
A news release from the DNR says the Sanitary District doesn’t know when the discharge began or how much waste water actually got into the lake. An upstream lift station has been shut down to end the discharge and repairs on the broken main were underway last (Wed.) evening.
Lime was applied to the ground around the break and where the tile discharges into the lake.
The DNR is recommending people avoid bodily contact with the water or ingesting the water in the immediate area where the tile line discharges into the lake. Again, that’s on the southwest side of Big Spirit Lake.
