(George)– Officials with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources say a fish kill in a Lyon county creek was the result of a fertilizer spill.
The DNR says the fish in a stretch of Rio Grande Creek in the George area started dying Wednesday afternoon following a release of 28 percent nitrogen fertilizer from some pipes and tanks being dismantled at the United Farmers Cooperative in George. The spill went on for several hours before the town’s Mayor noticed the fertilizer running across a driveway and going directly into the creek, which joins the Little Rock River less than a mile southwest of George. The Mayor then contacted co-op officials who stopped the release around 8:40 p.m.
It isn’t certain exactly how much fertilizer got into the creek.
Later on Wednesday evening, DNR personnel observed dead and dying fish in the stream. By this (Thursday) morning, DNR officials found only dead fish…mostly chubs and minnows…at each bridge crossing along roughly a one mile stretch of the creek through George.
Upstream of the co-op, DNR officials say ammonia levels were less than one part per million. Downstream, they say levels were at 25 parts per million. Ammonia, a component of nitrogen fertilizer, is toxic to fish and aquatic life at about five to eight parts per million.
DNR officials continued to investigate the fish kill today (Thursday). They say enforcement action may be pending.
