Polk County Land and Water highlights $250,000 manure storage project at Creekside Dairy
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Summary
Land and Water engineers described construction of a new concrete manure storage facility at Creekside Dairy near Little Butternut Creek, funded largely by a DNR targeted runoff grant and completed in late 2024; staff cited nutrient reductions and improved farm safety and operations.
Polk County Land and Water Department staff presented details of a manure storage facility built in 2024 at Creekside Dairy, owned by Ryan and Abby Johnson in the Town of Laketown. Karsten Peterson, conservation engineering analyst, described the project as a multi‑year effort to replace an older, failing pit with a modern, lined concrete facility designed to meet current setbacks and storage standards.
Peterson said the site’s soils and configuration required a design that included a three‑foot clay liner under the concrete pad, rebar and specialized concrete mixes. He estimated a project cost in the vicinity of $250,000 and said the DNR targeted runoff grant program can provide up to $225,000 for small‑scale storage projects of this type; the project was awarded grant funding and constructed in October–November 2024 after design and bidding phases that began in 2021. Peterson noted cost reductions from contractor negotiations and owner value‑engineering; the landowners completed final seeding, mulching and fencing and saved about $15,000 on the contract by handling some items themselves.
Staff described environmental and operational benefits: a required nutrient management plan for the farm, better timing of manure application (reducing winter spreading), and modeled reductions of roughly 2,000 pounds of phosphorus per year, 5,000 pounds of nitrogen per year and about 51 tons of sediment annually attributed to the suite of practices and the storage plus management changes. Peterson said the facility improves safety over the old structure and increases operational efficiency.
Why it matters: The project required multi‑year design, grant application and contracting work; county staff used state grant money to pay most construction costs and monitored site work, compaction, concrete pouring and final vegetative stabilization. Land and Water staff said the project demonstrates how targeted state grants and local engineering support are used to reduce nutrient and sediment loading to waterways while helping farmers maintain productive operations.