Field Office Compliance - Assistance

Assistance ID - 79668
Plymouth Dairy Farms L.p. - 310714904
23505 K49 Le Mars, IA 51031
Plymouth County

FO 3

Report
File Name File Type File Date Note
Comments
7/6/2015 Don and I investigated the release at 2:00 p.m. 7/1/15. There was a power outage to the site at 4:30 a.m. and the backup generator did not turn on as expected. When power was returned to the site, the flume pump was turned back on. The flume pump ran for approximately 45 minutes before it was discovered that the waste wate had backed up down the settling line, over the road, around the basin (however, some water was able to flow into the basin at this point), into the adjacent crop field, and enter the grass waterway which joins a small channel which flows into Plymouth Creek. Field test of the water showed high levels of ammonia above the makeshift dam and lower levels below. These field tests did suggest that the makeshift dams were installed after some of the manure/ waste water had crossed the last dam (located at K49 bridge, west side), as there were high levels of ammonia at the bridge located at C44. Alan called Yokam to pump the waste water from the creek to a field/ the basin. Samples were taken and sent to Lakeside Lab for analysis. MICHELLE SABATINI
7/1/2015 At 7:15 a.m. a manure release was found that flowed around the lagoon due to a plugged line. The power had been off from 4:30 a.m. until 6:15 a.m. when the flume pump was turned back on. Estimated 10,000 gallons flowed to the south and into the creek/bed. 3 different dams were constructed to block any manure flow. Reported that there were no fish in the small stream and water was clear downstream of the constructed dam. He must pump out the contained manure or scrape with back hoe. Michelle and Don will investigate and further instruct the facility on what to do. CINDY MARTENS
State of Iowa DNR Home Site Policy
Leading Iowans in caring for our natural resources
Version: 2.3.0.23170
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