Iowa official finds dead fish in 50 miles of fertilizer-contaminated river

State conservation officials have found no living fish in the East Nishnabotna River south of Red Oak — the result of a massive fertilizer spill at a farmers cooperative.

The only living fish were discovered near Hamburg in far southwest Iowa, downstream of where the river joins with the West Nishnabotna, said John Lorenzen, a fisheries biologist for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

He evaluated sections of about 50 river miles over the course of four days to determine the scope of the fish kill. He had not yet fully tallied the estimated number of dead fish on Friday but noted that there were also numerous dead frogs, snakes, mussels and earthworms.

The spill is the result of someone at NEW Cooperative leaving open a hose valve that leaked about 265,000 gallons of liquid nitrogen fertilizer, said Wendy Wittrock, a senior environmental specialist for the DNR.

The effects of the river contamination continued into Missouri, where the Nishnabotna flows about another 10 miles until it reaches the Missouri River. Lorenzen said conservation officials in that state discovered dead fish near the mouth of the river.

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