March 29, 2024

Iowa environmental officials investigating fertilizer spill

MOUNT PLEASANT (AP) — Iowa environmental officials are investigating a fertilizer spill in southeastern Iowa.

The Iowa Department of Nature Resources said Tuesday in a news release that the spill occured Monday in eastern Mount Pleasant, when a fertilizer truck overturned at the interchange of U.S. Highways 34 and 218.

Investigators say the Mount Pleasant Liqui-Grow truck spilled most of its 2,400-gallon load of high nitrogen fertilizer — as well as some diesel fuel — into a roadside ditch. Liqui-Grow employees were able to recover about 400 gallons of fertilizer, but the other 2,000 gallons reached an unnamed tributary of Heather Branch Creek. Crews dammed the creek with sandbags and have been using pumps to try to prevent downstream contamination.

Department workers are on site offering advice and testing water samples. Field tests show ammonia levels were high, but there has been no sign of a fish kill.