(Spirit Lake)– The Iowa Department of Natural Resources says it’s possible a small amount of untreated wastewater may have gotten into East Lake Okoboji this past weekend.
DNR officials say they received a report from staff with the Iowa Great Lakes Sanitary Sewer District of a pump failure in a lift station near Arthur Heights on the east side of East Lake Okoboji shortly before 9:20 p.m. Saturday. Workers arrived a few minutes later and found a high level of wastewater in the station. They repaired the pump and the station was back in operation shortly after 10:00 p.m.
Workers examined the area around the station that night and couldn’t find any indication of a bypass. However when they returned in daylight Monday, workers did find some indication that untreated wastewater had discharged from a manhole.
DNR officials say they don’t have an estimated on how much may have leaked out or if it even actually reached the lake.
