DNR fines Mason City company for allowing illegal discharge into creek tributary

MASON CITY — A Mason City company has been fined for allowing an illegal discharge into a tributary to a local creek.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources says their Mason City field office received a complaint on February 8th of this year regarding discolored water in an unnamed tributary to Chelsea Creek. An environmental specialist confirmed there was a discharge from a storm sewer and found it to originate on the Martin-Brower Company property at 2400 15th Southwest. T

he DNR says Martin-Brower staff had spilled a milkshake ingredient and flushed a portion of the pollutant into the storm sewer, resulting in a discharge of a pollutant with a very high biochemical oxygen demand into the creek. Martin-Brower was ordered to flush the storm sewer and remove the contaminated water from the unnamed tributary.

A similar incident happened in April 2021 when a milkshake ingredient was spilled from a dumpster at a loading dock and an employee removed the product to the storm sewer.

As part of a recently filed administrative consent order, Martin-Brower agreed to post signage to avoid discharges into the site’s storm drain, train its employees on proper spill disposal, and pay an administrative penalty of $6500.