ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency found two Winona County dairy farms were keeping sloppy records on manure applications in July, about the time that pollution killed an estimated 2,500 trout in Rush Creek in central Winona County. The agency did not identify the farms in a news release that wound up a multi-agency investigation. Sources said, however, the farms were mid-size dairy operations in the Rush Creek headwaters near Utica. The investigation found that the farms spread manure within 50 feet of a sinkhole and failed to keep complete manure management records. The agency sent notices of violations to the farms but apparently didn’t levy fines. The agency said it could not definitively link bad manure practices to the fish kill. The agency noted the likely role of torrential rain that created unusually heavy subterranean flows that may have carried pollutants through porous limestone layers and caverns. The investigation examined manure records of 100 farms n the 20,000-ace watershed.
Earlier: Farmers queried about Rush Creek fish kill
Earlier: Message to Walz: Please solve Rush Creek fish kill
Earlier: To Walz: Crack whip to get fish-kill answers
Verbatim
MCPA news release: “Investigators did not find evidence of a direct discharge of pollutants to Rush Creek. They concluded that recent upstream applications of manure and pesticides combined with low-flow conditions in the creek prior to rainfall on July 23 may have led to the fish kill.”