Oil Spill on Brewery Creek
Kim Kuber, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
During the morning April 14th, WDNR staff received multiple reports of an oily sheen on Black Earth and Brewery Creeks. It was determined that due to strong storms, a transformer was damaged and hydraulic oil (estimated 125 gallons) spilled into a ditch near the intersection of CTH P and North Hill Point Drive in Cross Plains. This material made its way into Brewery Creek. To mitigate this issue, absorbent socks and pads were used in the ditch and absorbent booms were deployed in Brewery Creek to contain and collect the spilled hydraulic oil. These absorbents were monitored and replaced within the waterway as needed.
That afternoon, I met Warden Caputo at the site with the damaged transformer and visited multiple locations along Brewery and Black Earth Creeks to determine the extent of the spill and to look for dead fish. We started at Raspberry Park (St. Francis Street Road crossing), where multiple booms were deployed downstream of the bridge over Brewery Creek. There was a visible oily sheen and odor to the water at this location, which was still noticeable downstream at the confluence with Black Earth Creek. Oil was still visible at a handful of other crossings on Black Earth Creek (Zander Park Bridge, Market Street, Hwy 14 crossing downstream of the WWTF), but only observed along the stream margins. Oil was no longer visible at Scherbel Road, South Valley Road, and Park Street in Black Earth. I did not observe dead or distressed fish at any of these locations.
Following the initial spill response, additional remediation efforts have taken place. A soil excavation project was completed to remove residual hydraulic oil that remained in the ditch. Fish management also conducted their annual summer surveys on three trend sites on Black Earth Creek and trout abundance fell within normal ranges at the respective sites.
