kwingert@messengernews.net
WEST BEND The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is investigating a manure spill and fish kill that happened Wednesday in rural Kossuth County.
The DNR responded to the manure spill in Lotts Creek, about two miles northeast of West Bend, on Wednesday afternoon.
According to a press release from the DNR, Precision Pumping, a commercial manure application company, was land applying manure through an umbilical rig when a hose came off the pump. The hose then flopped into the creek and spilled an estimated 10,000 gallons of manure before the pump could be shut down.
At the site, DNR found a large number of dead and dying fish in the creek. The department expects the fish kill to be ongoing as the manure moves downstream.