Iowa DNR
Fish Kill DatabaseDB

Fish Kill Event - Lotts Creek

The kill started in Section 8 of Garfield Township, Kossuth Co, and travelled 9.6 stream miles down to Section 4 Delana Township, Humbolt Co.

Event ID
1008
Date of Kill
4/14/2021
Waterbody Type
River/Stream
Cause Origin
Anthropogenic
Cause
Animal Waste
Mode
Pumping Incident
Animal Waste Source
Land-Applied
Animal Type
Hogs
Approx Head
Unknown/Unspecified
Magnitude
6 (25,001 - 50,000 fish killed)
Estimated Fish Killed
35,004
Kill Length
9.60 miles
Valuation
$4,233.30
Investigation Expenses
$779.21
County
Kossuth
ESD Field Office
FO 2
Fisheries Office
Clear Lake Station
LongDD
-94.41530
LatDD
42.99465
Created Date
4/21/2021 12:32:11 PM
Last Update
5/5/2021 7:59:40 AM
For more information about this fish kill event, contact the Field Office or Fisheries Office listed above.
Impacted Assessment Segments
Lat/Long uses WGS84 datum
Onsite Comments

Commercial manure applicator company Precision Pumping was land applying manure with an umbilical rig. There was a booster pump set up on the bank of the creek and the charged supply side hose came off the pump and flopped into the creek, pumping what an applicator representative estimated to be 10K gallons of manure directly into the creek before he could get the supply line shut down. There is currently a large number of dead and dying fish in the creek and the slug continues to move downstream. Lotts Creek is approximately 10-feet wide and 1-2 feet deep and has a high velocity flow, but there is little in the way of dilution due to a lack of significant tributaries and the fact that field drainage tiles in the area are not currently discharging; this kill is expected to be ongoing. The regional DNR fisheries biologist has been notified and fisheries staff will be on-site tomorrow morning to begin a fish count.

Day 2:FO2 staff were on scene most of the day today and documented that the manure slug had dissipated and the fishkill terminated at a point approximately 10-miles downstream of the spill site. Field testing and observations today revealed that the affected portion of Lotts Creek has returned to background levels with regard to water chemistry (e.g., Dissolved Oxygen, Ammonia, etc.) and live fish were observed. There was no obvious evidence of an impact (i.e., dead fish, colored water, odor, etc.) to the East Fork Des Moines River. DNR Fisheries staff conducted a dead fish count today as well; their report, and the results of laboratory analysis of water samples will be forthcoming in the near future.

FISH KILLED

Species

Size of Fish

Number Killed

Minnows Shiners Dace

0-6 inches

34,560

Suckers

0-8 inches

22

Stonerollers

0-6 inches

398

Darters

1-4 inches

24