Officials say hundreds of fish are dead after farm chemicals spilled into a river in northwest Iowa near the town of Melvin, about 15 miles south of the Iowa/Minnesota border.
Allen Roder of Ashton was spraying a soybean field when a sprayer fell into a stream at about 6:30 Tuesday evening. A mix of 150 ounces of HERO insecticide, five gallons of RoundUp herbicide, and 500 gallons of water emptied into a stream that’s a tributary of the Floyd River.
Dead fish were discovered at a bridge downstream. Officials say many live fish were at the surface of the stream on Wednesday morning, apparently seeking oxygen. The DNR is counting the number of dead fish and taking water samples to determine the extent of the spill. Cities like Sioux City which are downstream and use the river for their drinking water supplies, but officials say it appears the spill will not contaminate their drinking water.
Water pumped out of the stream near the site of the spill is being applied to farmland.