LOCAL

Wayne County dairy farm fined after 3,500 fish killed

Seth Slabaugh
The Star Press
Manure from this lagoon at High Point Dairy leaked into a creek and caused a fish kill in 2017.

LYNN, Ind. —  A Wayne County dairy farm has agreed to pay a $9,600 civil penalty to settle complaints of a manure-lagoon spill that resulted in a fish kill.

High Point Dairy, 11462 Elliot Road, also agreed to reimburse the Indiana Department of Natural Resources $1,775 for the value of damage to fish and wildlife.

The Indiana Department of Environmental Management says the lagoon was filled beyond capacity and overflowed into a field tile that led to Fountain Creek, causing the death of more than 3,500 fish on April 3, 2017.

The manure was supposed to be applied to crop fields as natural fertilizer before the lagoon exceeded its capacity.

"Unforeseeable rain added to our problem," the farm's owner, Robert White, told The Star Press. "Mother Nature wouldn't let us pump the manure out … We just needed a few more days of dry weather to dragline it onto the fields."

According to the Indiana State Climate Office, March of 2017 was warmer and wetter than normal, and April of that year was a very warm and wet month.

"We knew it was full … but when you can't get the manure out to the field because they thought it was too muddy there's nothing you can do with it," White said. "It's a bad situation, and we are new at this. We've only had the lagoon three or four years and there is a learning curve on our part."

High Point, between Lynn and Richmond, has expanded from a small dairy to one with total capacity of 1,050 cows, though White said the herd actually numbered only 450.

According to an agreed order issued by IDEM, the farm failed to report the manure spill; failed to monitor the lagoon's capacity; failed to maintain the lagoon and a sand settling pit with a minimum freeboard of two feet; failed to have clearly identified and accurate manure level markers; did not conduct a manure test within the last year to obtain information about nutrient recommendations for crops and to minimize nutrient leaching; and committed other violations.

Neighbors reported the spill before the farm discovered the problem, White said.

He estimated the amount of manure that leaked from the lagoon at 5,000 gallons or less, seeping out "like a water hose on full tilt. It was minute, but it didn't take much to pollute the water."

"We are stewards of the land," White added. "We are the last ones who want any problems because we live here and will be here."

High Point was cited by IDEM for alleged violations on two other occasions in recent years.

One resulted in a civil penalty of $1,500 for not providing the state a construction start notification and construction completion affidavit; for allowing sand contaminated with waste to be outside of the waste storage structure after the sand settling pit overfilled; for not considering storm water management practices; and other alleged violations.

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Contact Seth Slabaugh at (765) 213-5834 or seths@muncie.gannett.com.