Washington's Snohomish River Meeting Quality Standards Following Manure Spill

21 million gallon waste lagoon failed, releasing manure from farm near town.

Compiled by staff

Published: Apr 28, 2010

The Snohomish River near the town of Snohomish, Wash., is meeting state water quality standards again following a 21 million manure lagoon failure at Bartelheimer Brothers Dairy into a slough.

French Slough, into which the spill was directly made, continues to show evidence of water quality problems, however, reports the Washington State Department of Agriculture.

The spill in April released an unknown quantity of waste into the waterway, which feeds into the Snohomish River 1.5 miles downstream from the failure site.

WSDA has been busy collecting water samples near the spill area which continue to be checked for signs of fecal coliform bacteria which can cause illness in humans. Fish are also being inspected for dissolved oxygen content which they require to breathe through their gills.

The Snohomish Health District has received no reports of human illness related to the spill, and no public drinking water sources are at risks from the contamination, reports the WSDA.

Additionally, no fish kills have been observed in the slough or river, where juvenile salmon and steelhead trout may be present.

The dairy continues to work to mitigate the environmental impact of the manure lagoon collapse. Producers located and blocked another drain that was allowing manure to flow into the slough, and monitor containment.

USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service is providing technical assistance to the dairy. The agency will assess field vegetation, sample soils and make recommendations to prevent further run-off of manure from the site.

Washington Department of Ecology is also involved, conducting an independent investigation into the failure. The agency is providing monitoring services for the waterways.

"We're doing everything we can to respond to this lagoon failure," says producer Jason Bartelheimer. "The farm has additional manure storage capacity, which we can rely on during this immediate response period. Our goal is to prevent further manure run-off into French Slough."

The lagoon breach was more than 30 feet wide on a facility constructed in 1997 to meet NRCS standards. The facility holds a Department of Ecology permit to operate.