MAURICE (AP) — The Iowa Natural Resources Department is investigating a fish kill caused by manure spilled into a northwest Iowa creek.
The spill appears to have occurred after a wrong switch was pulled Saturday evening at the Brian Roorda Dairy east of Maurice, the department said in a news release. The switch turned on a pump that moves manure from one lagoon to another, causing the second lagoon to overflow. The overflow ran down a waterway into Orange City Slough Creek.
The spill was reported to the department on Sunday morning, and the dairy operators built an earthen dam to contain the manure.
The manure had affected about five miles of the creek by early Sunday evening, the department said.