Lee County, IA –
Lee County Fish Kill
Conservation Director Tom Buckley says county employees and volunteers put in many hours cleaning up dead fish at Trumpeter Swan Marsh. He says the work was completed before the July 4th holiday weekend.
The pond along Highway 61 near Montrose was the site of a large-scale fish kill one week ago.
Buckley says original estimates from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources put the total number of dead bluegill, bass, and crappie at about 4,000. He says the results of the clean-up bumped that number to as high as 10,000.
Buckley says the DNR is still testing samples taken from the pond. He says the samples came from various parts of the pond and from a waterway that runs into the bod of water.
Buckley says the belief is that low oxygen levels in the pond led to the fish kill. He says non-aquatic wildlife, including 2 trumpeter swans, did not seem to be impacted by the fish kill.
The Iowa DNR can require someone found guilty of unlawfully killing the fish to reimburse the state $15/fish. That could be as much as $150,000.
Roquette America bypass
About 30,000 gallons of water leaked into a Keokuk storm sewer Monday night.
The DNR says the source was a line that carries used sugar water to Roquette America's wastewater treatment plant. The storm sewer flows into Soap Creek, which feeds into the Mississippi River.
The DNR has not seen any impact on aquatic life in the river because of the spill.
The agency says the line was repaired and the discharge came to an end Monday night.