The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is investigating and monitoring a 100,000-gallon manure spill at a large dairy farm, highlighting the environmental risks tied to large-scale agriculture.
What happened?
As Wisconsin Public Radio reported, the massive spill occurred near Athens in central Wisconsin at Deercreek Holsteins LLC, a concentrated animal feeding operation with nearly 1,800 milking cows.
The DNR said the spill happened when a hose used to transfer manure between storage facilities became loose, allowing manure to leak for about an hour before the issue was discovered.
Manure flowed across a field and into a tributary that feeds Black Creek, which flows into the Big Rib River and eventually empties into the Wisconsin River — one of the state's most important waterways.
DNR officials responded quickly to remove the waste, using vacuum trucks to extract manure from the stream and a nearby wetland. However, cold winter temperatures have hampered cleanup efforts, as some manure froze in the wetland, requiring ongoing monitoring and further removal once the snow and ice melt.
The farm's owner, Corey Phillipi, said the spill resulted from equipment failure by a contracted operator and emphasized that the farm is cooperating fully with regulators. The DNR is still reviewing the incident to determine whether enforcement actions or penalties will follow.
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"We will occasionally see situations where farms may have two or three different manure storages on the farm, and they have to transfer it from one to the other as they get further into winter," Kevin Erb, the manager of a manure applicator training program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Extension, told WPR.
"Just like any other industry, when you're moving a product, you need to be watching what's going on. Mechanical failures are going to happen."
Why is the manure spill concerning?
While the farm has not reported any other spills, according to the DNR, nearly 500 manure spills occurred throughout Wisconsin from 2020 to 2024. Large farms account for more than half of those incidents, in part because CAFOs are required to report spills while smaller farms are not.
Manure spills can contaminate drinking water, harm fish and wildlife, and overload waterways with nutrients that fuel harmful algae blooms.
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$200 or more 💰 Since around 25% of Wisconsin's citizens drink water from private wells, according to the DNR, manure spills could cause serious health risks if the water isn't properly treated.
Over the last 16 years, several major manure spills have caused significant pollution and killed thousands of fish in waterways such as the Little Suamico River, the Kickapoo River, and Lake Winnebago.
Erb noted that the number of incidents has recently leveled off, but the environmental risks associated with large-scale dairy farms remain high.
What's being done to prevent manure spills?
The state is working to reduce manure spills through a combination of mandatory reporting, improved technologies such as larger hoses and GPS to ensure accuracy, and proactive risk-assessment tools that predict runoff.
The Clackamas Soil and Water Conservation District also recommended composting manure and planting vegetation along waterways to catch runoff and filter out harmful nutrients and bacteria.
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