Spill on the Nishnabotna affects water in two states

East Nishnabotna River: photo by Iowa Department of Tourism

Mary Ellen and brother David, a few years ago

The Nishnabotna is a river in southwestern Iowa.  It starts in Carroll County, Iowa, and flows south, entering the Missouri near Watson, Missouri.   The predominant land use in the area is row crop agriculture. Small cities along the river include many businesses that support agriculture. The West Nishnabotna is a designated water trail and outfitters will set folks up with kayaks and tubes to enjoy the river.  

​LWV UMRR Chair, Mary Ellen Miller, was born in Red Oak, Iowa, a small town on the banks of a small river, the East Nishnabotna.  She remembers standing on her porch as a small child, watching the flooded river lapping at the steps of her family home.   The river flooding was exacerbated by removal of wetlands and natural ponding, and straightening of the meanders that used to hold water upland.   The Nishnabotna is a very different river than it was before Europeans arrived on the prairie.

---

The Spill:
On March 11, a massive spill of liquid fertilizer from the NEW Cooperative in Red Oak was discovered.  Apparently, it had  begun on March 9, when a valve was left open and 1500 tons (265,000 gallons) of inorganic fertilizer were discharged into a drainage ditch that flows into the East Nishnabotna.   Iowa DNR is investigating.  

According to the Iowa Capitol Dispatch (3/13/24), "An investigation into the extent of the environmental damage is pending, but the crop fertilizer killed fish and might have affected the river all the way to the Missouri border, which is about 40 miles downstream from the southwest Iowa town, said Wendy Wittrock, a DNR senior environmental specialist who investigated the incident.  Wittrock said it is likely the largest fertilizer spill she has investigated: “It is a lot of fertilizer.”

The spill was reported Monday morning by NEW Cooperative after one of its employees noticed the leak and stopped it.
​
The cause of the spill is under investigation, but the fertilizer leaked from a valve in an area where it is transferred from a very large tank into smaller tanks for distribution. The large tank — which holds about 500,000 gallons — is in a containment area that can prevent wider spills, but the transfer area does not have the same protection, Wittrock said. It’s unclear how long the valve was leaking.

“Upon discovery of the spill, management immediately initiated containment protocols as per our established safety procedures,” NEW Cooperative said in a prepared statement on Wednesday. “We promptly notified the appropriate local authorities and regulatory agencies and have been working diligently in close cooperation with them ever since.”  A spokesperson for the Fort Dodge-based cooperative declined to comment further. That amount of fertilizer is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Spill site - photo by Red Oak Fire Department

Impacts of the Spill: Dead Fish
Dead fish and other river life line the watercourse, all the way to the Missouri River, 60 miles from the spill.   The Des Moines Register reports "State conservation officials have found no living fish in the East Nishnabotna River south of Red Oak — the result of a massive fertilizer spill at a farmers cooperative.

The only living fish were discovered near Hamburg in far southwest Iowa, downstream of where the river joins with the West Nishnabotna, said John Lorenzen, a fisheries biologist for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.  However, the handful of surviving carp he saw appeared to be in the process of dying.  “I’ve never dealt with a situation like this before,” Lorenzen said."

In a March 27 article, the Iowa Capitol Dispatch reports that 750,000 fish died in this incident.  This number would have been higher except that the fish populations are low at this time due to cold temperatures and low flows.  

Impacts of the Spill: Drinking Water Risks
The DNR alerted towns downstream from Red Oak about the potential effect the spill might have on drinking water, although none of the towns draw water directly from the river. Several of them have relatively shallow wells near the river, according to DNR records.

The Iowa DNR is encouraging private well owners near the river in Montgomery, Page and Fremont counties to contact their county health department to test their wells for nitrate. The service is free using Iowa's Grants-to-Counties (GTC) program. 

Missouri state officials are also investigating the impacts the spill might have on the Nishnabotna River, which goes for about 10 miles in that state before joining the Missouri River.  Kansas City draws drinking water directly from the river, but the Missouri River is large and the city is more than 100 miles downstream.  “We think it’ll be fairly diluted by the time it gets down here,” said Karen Rouse, a regional director for the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.  (Source: Iowa Capitol Dispatch 3/13/24)

Impacts of the Spill: Risk to Livestock
Because of low water levels in the East Nishnabotna, the concentration of liquid nitrogen fertilizer is higher than normal and causing concern for animals due to high nitrate and urea levels.   The Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine Toxicologist Scott Radke recommends animal owners keep them away from the river until the fertilizer moves out of the area.   (Source: WQAD News, March 13, 2024)​