Lester, Iowa — An Alvord farmer will have to pay over $35,000 after a manure accident and subsequent fish kill in Lyon County in 2021.
According to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Bernard Bakker of rural Alvord owns Rock Bottom Dairy about two miles northeast of Lester. They tell us that in April 2021 he called the DNR. Bakker apparently told them that one of his employees forgot to turn the manure irrigator off the previous evening, and the unit got stuck near 120th Street and Elder Avenue, where it continued to run for a couple of hours. He said the issue was discovered at 6 a.m., when they saw that the manure had created a channel to a tributary of Mud Creek. It was estimated that “a couple hundred thousand gallons” of liquid manure had been released to the tributary.
When they came to check on the situation, DNR investigators found a strong odor and the tributary was murky brown with foam. In the next few days, they found the fish kill extended downstream for over 13 miles. It was estimated that over 96,000 fish had been killed as a result.
Along with having to pay over $26,000 in fish restitution and a $10,000 administrative penalty, Rock Bottom was also ordered to make a manure management plan that in addition to other stipulations, requires equipment inspection before any manure pumping and employee training about manure management.
