(Okoboji)– Officials say the source of a foul smell earlier this week in Okoboji was coming from a byproduct of foul–chicken manure.
David Kolhaase of the Dickinson County Environmental Health Office says his office received several complaints of the putrid odor from residents of Okoboji and those traveling on Highway 71 between Spirit Lake and Okoboji. Kohlhaase tells KUOO news he forwarded those complaints to the DNR’s Regional Field Office in Spencer.
Upon investigating, Ken Hessenious of that office tells KUOO news a staffer determined the smell was coming from chicken manure that had been applied Monday to a field in the area of the Old County Home Road, near Kenue Park and the Wild Rose Inn. Hessenious says the application was completely legal and that they aren’t concerned over any possible environmental impacts…Click here to hear mp3 file
Hessenious says the application of chicken manure is governed under a statute in Iowa Code that’s separate from the one pertaining to cattle and hogs…Click here to hear mp3 file
Hessenious adds this was not the first time chicken manure has been applied to that land…Click here to hear mp3 file
Hessenious says he doesn’t know how often that’s been taking place nor the quantities that are involved, or where the manure is being hauled in from, since his office isn’t in charge of regulating it.
