Little Cedar getting cleaner
1-287
Clean up is under way on the Little Cedar River after train cars derailed causing ethanol and diesel leaks on Monday night.
The three ethanol cars that ended up in the water were removed Thursday, May 23, from the Little Cedar River east of Charles City, according to an Iowa Department of Natural Resource’s press release. The cars are going to be analyzed to see how much of the ethanol they contained was released into the waters.
The cars were said to hold 25,000 gallons of ethanol, according to a news release by Karen Grimes, DNR information specialist.
“Unlike petroleum products, ethanol does not float, but mixes immediately with water making recovery impossible,” the release said.
The train with 81 cars had five of those cars derail — four carrying ethanol and one filled with rocks — after hitting washed out tracks south of the intersection of Windfall Avenue and 190th Street on Monday night. On Monday night the tracks washed out as the Little Cedar River was rising to the height of its crest, 18.41 feet, which is major flooding for the river, according to the National Weather Service. As of Thursday at 8 p.m., the Little Cedar is at 10.13 feet, just above its action stage of 10 feet. Three of the ethanol cars that derailed were shown to have been leaking ethanol and diesel into the Little Cedar River.
Continuous stream monitors have been
Train
Continued on page 2
Back to Top