DECORAH—The Wednesday morning report of a fish kill about four miles southwest of Decorah sent DNR staff to investigate Dry Run Creek that afternoon.
Following a trail of contaminated water, the DNR traced the fish kill to a dairy owned by Darryl Humpal of Ridgeway. Humpal had land applied manure on a hay field near the creek on Monday. Rainfall Monday night apparently flushed the dairy manure into the creek.
About five miles of stream were affected, but DNR environmental staff found no dead game fish. DNR fisheries staff found large numbers of dead minnows and suckers.
Wednesday and Thursday, Humpal disked the hay field and pumped more than 10,000 gallons of diluted water from the creek to prevent further contamination downstream.
DNR will continue to monitor the cleanup, conduct a fish kill count and consider appropriate enforcement action.