WEBSTER CITY – A Thursday morning complaint about a fuel sheen on a drainage ditch east of Webster City led DNR field investigators to a leaking storage tank at the Stonega Branch of United Cooperative east of Webster City.
DNR’s Mason City specialists spent Thursday tracking the sheen upstream in Drainage Ditch 166 to an underground tile outlet, eventually finding the fuel source, a diesel fuel tank. Coop staff initially estimate 90 gallons of diesel fuel leaked out, saturated soil beneath the tank, and then flowed to the underground tile line and into the ditch.
Coop staff hired a private contractor to place booms across the drainage ditch, collect fuel in the ditch and remove contaminated soil beneath the tank. The contractor contained the spill in the ditch, preventing it from reaching the Boone River.
The DNR will continue to monitor cleanup activities and consider appropriate enforcement actions.
“Fuel and other hydrocarbons like pesticides can be harmful to aquatic life,” said Jeff Vansteenburg, supervisor of the DNR’s Mason City field office. “That’s why it is so important to capture fuel before it reaches surface waters.”
The DNR encourages anyone who notices a spill or fish kill to report it by calling the 24-hour emergency response line at 515-725-8694.