OSSIAN – The Iowa DNR is looking into a fertilizer leak that occurred Thursday in the city of Ossian, in Winneshiek County. The Farmers Union Coop reported Friday morning that a tank had leaked over the winter, into it’s secondary containment structure. The company pumped the containment to an area that discharged into a storm water intake leading to an unnamed tributary. The unnamed tributary flows into Nutting Creek. The release was discovered when people noticed white water in the creek.
The coop estimates between 1,000 – 2,000 gallons were released and is working to recover fertilizer from the storm sewer that goes into the creek. DNR staff were working with the coop on options to recover product in the creek. The DNR has collected water samples for testing, check for environmental impacts in the stream and consider appropriate enforcement action. No dead fish were observed.