A spokesman for the DNR says around 1,250 fish died after a water main break Monday that allowed chlorinated water into Iowa’s only urban trout stream in Cedar Rapids.
DNR fisheries technician Chris Mack talked with KCRG TV about the fish kill at McLoud Run. “It is a big deal. I mean, our hatchery spent money and time raising these fish, and we spend time hauling them and stocking them,”
DNR records show there have been seven other fish kills at McLoud Run since 2012. Mack says the last fish kill happened earlier this year, and the cause was also chlorinated water. ‘It’s fairly frequent occurrence being an urban situation,” Mack says. He says the DNR assess the value of the dead fish, then the city of Cedar Rapids has to pay the fine. In spring 2023 that was around $22,000, and another fish kill in 2017 cost around $20,000.
Mack was asked by KCRG TV, if mass fish kills have become the norm for this area, when do they get to the point where they don’t restock McCloud Run. He says it provides a unique opportunity for anglers. “It’s just these urban settings are closer to people and the majority of our anglers don’t want to travel that far,” he says. Iowa’s other trout streams are in Northern Iowa.
The Cedar Rapids Gazette reports in the wake of these kills, the city of Cedar Rapids has purchased seven sensors that would alert city staff when a water main break occurs so that it can be stopped sooner.