DOON - The DNR Field Office in Spencer received a complaint overnight about a manure release into a tributary of the Rock River southwest of Doon. DNR staff confirmed that the manure flowed across a field, entering an unnamed tributary of the Rock River just west of the intersection of Fillmore Avenue and 270th Street. No fish were observed in the tributary. There is very little flow in the stream, and there was no observed impact in the Rock River.
The manure originated from Winding Meadows Dairy in Rock Valley. Jochum Agri-Service was land applying the manure by an umbilical hose in a field approximately two miles southeast of the dairy. Company representatives stated that a hose coupling broke, and approximately two to three thousand gallons of manure spilled. Earthen berms were placed across the flow path, but the manure still entered the stream in an adjacent field.