Lee County Fertilizer Spill Reaches Mississippi River Drainage Ditch
An unknown amount of liquid fertilizer mixed with rainwater has leaked from a containment area in Lee County, entering a drainage ditch that leads to a tributary of the Mississippi River, according to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.
The incident began in early October when staff at a Merschman Fertilizer facility in Fort Madison reported a leak in a liquid fertilizer tank. Facility workers transferred the remaining product into a different storage vessel. Both tanks are housed inside a lined containment berm layered with roughly six inches of gravel, as detailed by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.
Following local rainfall, facility staff operated a sump pump to clear accumulated liquid from the containment berm. That action inadvertently pumped an undetermined quantity of fertilizer and collected rainwater straight into a nearby drainage ditch.
State environmental officials identified the released substance as urea ammonium nitrate, commonly known as UAN, containing 32% nitrogen. The drainage ditch carries the mixture into an unnamed tributary that empties directly into the Mississippi River.
DNR staff responded to the site to investigate the discharge. According to a department news release, no dead fish have been observed in the affected waterways, though residents have been advised to avoid the area near Fort Madison.
Cleanup operations are currently underway. Facility staff are actively pumping the remaining product and rainwater mixture out of the drainage path and into a secure, alternative on-site tank. To prevent further downstream migration, temporary dams have been installed along the tributary.
