(Milford)– Officials with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources say about 20-thousand gallons of untreated wastewater was released into Mill Creek south of Milford Friday.
The DNR says it happened when a battery back-up system wasn’t reactivated after repairs had been made to an Iowa Great Lakes Sanitary District lift station on Thursday.
Officials say the discharge took place around 10:00 a.m. Friday, and that officials with the Sanitary District were notified of the problem by radio telemetry and had it fixed by 11:23 a.m.
Some lime was put down in the area where the bypass occurred, but the DNR says high flow levels in Mill Creek prevented a crew with the Sanitary District from taking water samples.
The DNR says wastewater discharges caused by mechanical failure must be reported to the agency within 12 hours of the onset or discovery of the event.
Mill Creek drains into the Little Sioux River which drains into the Missouri River. The DNR contacted downstream public water systems in Council Bluffs, Omaha and Blair, Nebraska as a precaution.
