Department of Conservation officials contained a 25,000 to 30,000 gallon manure spill in Skaneateles Wednesday morning that occurred in a tributary near Dutch Hollow Brook in Owasco.
Diane Carlton, of the DEC, said Wednesday afternoon that the spill occurred Monday night when an anaerobic digester pipe pumping manure at Twin Birch Dairy Farm on Lacy Road in Skaneateles burst.
The spill flowed into a tributary that merges with Dutch Hollow Brook but Cayuga County Environmental Engineer Bruce Natale said the manure was contained before it reached the brook that feeds into Owasco Lake.
“It was contained and cleaned up before it reached Dutch Hollow,” Natale said.
Natale said that eight fish have been found dead in the area since the spill.
By Wednesday morning Natale said the site had been cleaned up and Carlton said a number of different parties involved themselves in the clean up effort.
Although the spill occurred in Skaneateles the land is
considered part of the Owasco Watershed.
According to their Web site, every 15 minutes manure is pumped into an anaerobic digester, where the methane is extracted to reduce greenhouse emission and create their own electricity.
Carlton explained that manure sits in a large facility without oxygen which reduces the waste's odors and bacteria until it is transferred to either a liquid or solid holding tank.
The nine-year-old pipe that burst contained the liquid waste that is transferred in a pipe roughly a half-mile away from a nearby golf course.
“They want to be good neighbors and pump it away from the golf course,” Carlton said.
The golf club first saw the leak and contacted the farmers who immediately worked to remediate the situation by placing devices that block the manure from moving until DEC officials arrived.
“The farmers were very responsive,” Carlton said.
DEC officials are scheduled to update the Cayuga County Water Quality Management Agency at a meeting Thursday morning.
Staff writer Kristina Martino can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 238 or kristina.martino@lee.net
The spill flowed into a tributary that merges with Dutch Hollow Brook but Cayuga County Environmental Engineer Bruce Natale said the manure was contained before it reached the brook that feeds into Owasco Lake.
“It was contained and cleaned up before it reached Dutch Hollow,” Natale said.
Natale said that eight fish have been found dead in the area since the spill.
By Wednesday morning Natale said the site had been cleaned up and Carlton said a number of different parties involved themselves in the clean up effort.
Although the spill occurred in Skaneateles the land is
considered part of the Owasco Watershed.
According to their Web site, every 15 minutes manure is pumped into an anaerobic digester, where the methane is extracted to reduce greenhouse emission and create their own electricity.
Carlton explained that manure sits in a large facility without oxygen which reduces the waste's odors and bacteria until it is transferred to either a liquid or solid holding tank.
The nine-year-old pipe that burst contained the liquid waste that is transferred in a pipe roughly a half-mile away from a nearby golf course.
“They want to be good neighbors and pump it away from the golf course,” Carlton said.
The golf club first saw the leak and contacted the farmers who immediately worked to remediate the situation by placing devices that block the manure from moving until DEC officials arrived.
“The farmers were very responsive,” Carlton said.
DEC officials are scheduled to update the Cayuga County Water Quality Management Agency at a meeting Thursday morning.
Staff writer Kristina Martino can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 238 or kristina.martino@lee.net
