• State agencies converge on Silver Spoon farm.
By JEFFERSON WEAVER
Staff Writer
State water quality and environmental officials are investigating a livestock waste spill in the Silver Spoon area.
The spill, which was apparently swine waste, was reported Wednesday around 6 p.m., according to officials on the scene. The owner, Barry Freedman, raises hogs for Murphy Brown. He contacted the state Division of Water Quality immediately, investigators said.
A response team was on site by 7 p.m. Wednesday, returned Thursday morning, and was scheduled to return each day until the spill is cleaned up.
Murphy Brown was scheduled to have suction trucks on the scene by 7 p.m. Thursday. Officials were using an airplane to photograph the extent of the spill.
The state investigator, who asked not to be identified, said representatives of the DWQ, Soil and Conservation Service, and other agencies were monitoring the spill, which apparently spread from a waste lagoon to a drainage ditch.
The ditch drains into a creek that feeds a sensitive wetlands area downstream, he said.
Freedman reported to The News Reporter Thursday night that the spill resulted from an irrigation hydrant malfunction. It is the first spill at the farm in 11 years of operation.