By Tracy Overstreet
tracy.overstreet@theindependent.com

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Independent/Scott Kingsley David Bubb, a surface water specialist with the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality (left), talks with said Brad Newcomb, a fisheries biologist from the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission Office in Kearney, while testing water in the outfall ditch near Grand Island's wastewater treatment plant. Bubb was testing the water after a fish kill was reported that affected 24 miles from the outfall ditch to the Wood River to the Platte River. In all 10, 626 were fish killed from eight species. Independent/Scott Kingsley Two of the estimated 10, 626 fish that were killed over the weekend between the wastewater treatment plant outfall ditch, the Wood River, and the Platte River. Click Thumbnails to View

"It's a fairly substantial fish kill," said Brad Newcomb, a fisheries biologist from the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission office in Kearney.

Newcomb said his field investigation was prompted by calls from private landowners reporting dead fish late Saturday afternoon. He came to Grand Island and investigated the Wood River on Sunday.

"I did monitor fish from just below the wastewater treatment plant release until all the way down to south of Chapman on the Wood River," Newcomb said. "There are dead fish the whole length of that span on the Wood River roughly 10 miles."

The fish kill continued to where the Wood River empties into the Platte near Central City and continued into the Platte, said David Bubb, a surface water specialist with the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality.

Bubb was called in to investigate on Monday.

All in all, 10,626 fish were killed along 16.6 miles of the Wood River and 7.5 miles of the Platte, plus a quarter mile of the city's wastewater treatment plant outfall ditch, Newcomb said.

Newcomb said eight fish species were killed, including common carp, channel catfish, largemouth bass and river carpsucker. Some were as large as 10 pounds or more.

No cleanup of the fish is expected. Most are washing downstream, and predators are carrying away others. The dead fish and contaminated water aren't expected to cause harm to the predators or private water well users in the area, the state officials said.

The value of all the fish will be calculated and could be charged to the violator, Newcomb said.

Bubb said oxygen levels in the city's outfall ditch and the Wood River were low, indicating the fish may have suffocated in the water. Ammonia samples were also taken and will be tested in a Lincoln lab.

The cause of the fish kill is still under investigation, but Newcomb said it appears the city's wastewater treatment plant was involved.

"It looks like some type of release from either the wastewater treatment plant or that area because that's where the dead fish start," Newcomb said. "There are no dead fish above the wastewater treatment plant release."

Grand Island city officials said they were aware of the recent fish kill but don't believe the city was part of the problem.

"At this point in time, there is no evidence that a correlation exists between the wastewater treatment plant and the fish kill," said a written statement prepared by city Public Information Officer Wendy Meyer-Jerke. "In fact, the city has learned of significant fish kills at two detention cells that are located upstream of the wastewater treatment plant, specifically at Husker Highway and North Road."

While fish kills do occur naturally often in winter months when lakes ice over and oxygen levels fall that's rarely the case with rivers that have constant flow, Bubb said.

"This is definitely not a natural kill it's caused by a pollutant," Bubb said as he tested waters Monday.

"There are (no dead fish) in the Wood River above the drainage ditch from the wastewater treatment plant, and Swift does release in that as well, but there's no fish above the wastewater treatment plant release dead fish," Newcomb said. "It looks like it could have come from there, but we don't have that information for sure yet.

"We are investigating that, and we'll know more when the water samples are analyzed," he said.

DEQ had issued four notices of violation to both the city's wastewater treatment plant and the meatpacking plant, JBS Swift & Co., in the last nine months related to discharge permits. The latest violation notice was sent on March 5.

The violations mean that material at levels harmful to the environment are being discharged from both entities, DEQ spokesman Brian McManus said.

Swift has a discharge pipe that feeds directly into the city's wastewater treatment plant and was cited for overloading the city's system, DEQ records show.

The city was cited for exceeding the level of suspended solids and ammonia in its discharge water.

"Either could cause a fish kill," Newcomb said of the suspended solids and ammonia.

A more recent discharge violation apparently occurred over the weekend that could have led to the fish kill, McManus said.

"The city of Grand Island did notify us Friday and Saturday that they were out of compliance (with their discharge permit) and exceedances were occurring," McManus said.

The Friday and Saturday problems related to "solids," he said.

Meyer-Jerke said the city notified DEQ on Friday and Saturday that discharge permit violations would occur "as a result of excessive loading from JBS Swift & Co., which was a fourfold increase over their average daily loading of suspended solids."

JBS Swift filed a response to the March 5 violation notice. It included descriptions of work it is doing on its anaerobic lagoon to correct the problem.

The city hasn't yet filed such a report but had 30 days to do so, McManus said.

Both JBS Swift and the city were notified in March and in previous violations that fines of $10,000 a day could be implemented.

Meyer-Jerke said the city is meeting with Swift officials and is complying with the reporting requirements of DEQ.

"We'll obviously be having ongoing discussions with them on the details what the exceedances were and what caused it," McManus said of talks with the city. "The city has been very cooperative on keeping us informed and notifying us of exceedances."