An equipment failure at Tyson Fresh Meats in Storm Lake sent around 10,000 gallons of untreated wastewater into the city’s storm sewers early Wednesday morning.
Officials at the Tyson plant notified the Iowa DNR about 2 a.m. that they had stopped the discharge.
The storm sewers empty into a detention pond near the intersection of East Lakeshore Drive and Flindt Drive.
The city began pumping from the pond about 3 a.m. to prevent the wastewater from entering the lake, however, city staff say an unknown amount of wastewater likely reached the lake.
The D-N-R will consider appropriate enforcement action.