Northwest Iowa — The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has announced some recent violations in northwest Iowa
Chad Hansmann of George was said to have violated manure regulations. The DNR says that during a very wet, rainy period, he pumped manure from a settled open feedlot effluent basin even when he was told not to. Hansmann said he was concerned for his cattle standing in water. The penalty was $6000 plus the DNR required Hansmann to perform certain actions to remedy the situation.
The DNR also reported that Jerry Reuvers, the operator-in-charge of the Orange City municipal water treatment and wastewater treatment facilities violated DNR policy. They say their investigation found that when he was obtaining water samples for lead and copper content, instead of having one resident gather the sample and sign the form, he reportedly collected the sample from that home’s outdoor spigot and forged the homeowner’s name on the form. The DNR placed him and his license on probation for a year. He may not serve as an operator-by affidavit at any drinking water or wastewater facility for a year, and must not be involved in collection of any lead or copper samples for a year.
Jochum Agi-Services of Salix, a manure-handling company was working on a farm in Lyon County when a manure dragline became disconnected and 2000 gallons of manure was released before it could be stopped. However, a dam was built and the water was collected and land-applied twice, and the DNR couldn’t find any evidence of impact, so the DNR just instructed Jochum Agri-Services how to prevent this from happening in the future.
Kent Nutrition Group is being fined $10,000 for air quality violations at the Deluxe Feeds plant in Sheldon. The Iowa DNR says that the air quality violations have to do with not obtaining the appropriate air quality permits — both in regard to their new construction, begun in September 2017; and on infrastructure that was in place prior to the beginning of the construction of the new facility.
