× Cedar County fish kill caused by spilled manure

Fish in a Cedar County creek were killed after manure was spilled into the water.

The fish kill happened on Sugar Creek, about 1.5 miles northeast of Tipton, Iowa, according to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

As investigators were looking into what caused the incident Wednesday afternoon, August 5, 2015, a Tipton man told them that he was responsible for the fish kill. He said that on Tuesday evening, he had been pumping manure from one area to another when a hose coupler failed and spilled hog confinement manure.

The Tipton man said he immediately shut down the pump, but the manure had already run about a half-mile downhill to Sugar Creek. He was trying to keep it from continuing to flow into the creek and was able to divert some manure into a low-lying area.

The DNR said they don’t know how much manure got into the stream but at least four miles of the stream was impacted.

The DNR continued to monitor the cleanup process. Any legal action against the Tipton man is pending, and could include late notification of the spill and fish restitution.