State environmental officials say a manure spill at a 15,000 head hog operation in north-central Iowa is contained. Kevin Baskins, spokesman for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, says the spill near Williams in Hamilton County was discovered Monday afternoon and the state had a team on-site Tuesday morning.

Baskins says there was a break in an underground manure pipeline at Prestage Farms. “It caused the liquid manure to pool in a nearby corn field and the neighbor noticed the manure pooled in his field when he was harvesting,” Baskins says. “We’ve been on the scene, monitoring that situation.”

Field tests of water quality in a nearby drainage ditch known as Tipton Creek showed no elevated levels of ammonia and no indications of any impact on water quality. Baskins says the response to the manure spill was swift. “They built some dikes to prevent it from moving into any surface waters of the state,” Baskins says. “They were pumping it back into the lagoon, so it was all contained. There’s no fish kill associated with it.”

An investigation is underway to determine if enforcement action is appropriate.

(Reporting by Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City)