Big cream spill threatens waters

DeSOTO, Iowa — Officials with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources aren’t normally the type to cry over spilled milk.

Then again, dairy-grade cream is not normally considered a pollutant, either. But that’s exactly what the state water agency is calling it after a tanker truck accident last weekend near DeSoto, Iowa.

A semitrailer hauling 5,000 gallons of dairy cream, owned by Gonzalez and Sons Express of Yukon, Okla., was leaving Interstate 80 Saturday in DeSoto, about 20 miles west of Des Moines, when the driver lost control and flipped the tanker. Firefighters and hazardous materials crews worked with Iowa Department of Transportation staff to contain the spill using sand.

According to Department of Natural Resources spokesman Ted Petersen, Gonzalez and Sons Express was supposed to pump up the cream and dispose of it. However, heavy rain and thunderstorms hit Dallas County on Monday night and Tuesday causing the sand berms containing the cream to weaken.

Tuesday afternoon, the berm broke and the cream was released, flowing into a drainage ditch and south through DeSoto to Bulger Creek, a tributary of the South Raccoon River.

“It is unknown how much of the cream has reached the creek at this time,” Petersen said Tuesday evening. “While the DNR did not observe a fish kill in the creek or river on Tuesday, the dairy cream can threaten fish and other aquatic life in the stream.”

He said that as the cream breaks down, oxygen in the water is pulled out, threatening fish. He said the state agency continues to monitor the situation and may consider enforcement actions or fines.

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