Fish turn up dead after thousands of pounds of soybeans spill into Gainesville creek

GAINESVILLE, Ga. - It’s a fishy mystery below the surface of Flat Creek.

Rough one hundred fish have turned up dead after thousands of pounds of soybeans spilled into the Georgia creek.

Now, contractors are racing to get those soybeans out of the water in an effort to stop the fish kill.

"We started noticing the problem with soybeans appearing in the creek, along with discolored water," said Becca Risser, the Chattahoochee Riverkeeper headwaters watershed specialist.

Then, the lifeless fish started to appear leaving a smelly mess and a lot of soybeans.

"As bacteria break the soybeans down, they use up all of the dissolved oxygen in the stream and draw the dissolved oxygen levels down too low for fish to survive," Risser said.

As the Gainesville Times first reported, workers are now trying to get the soybeans out and save the fish.

"They’re trying to bubble reoxygenate the creek to make up for the impacts of the soybeans to raised dissolved oxygen levels," Risser said.

Along with the lingering odor – the lingering question: where did all of these soybeans come from?

"The cause is still under investigation," Risser said. "We are aware of a train derailment that occurred upstream of here that included three rail cars full of soybeans which tipped over near the headwaters of Flat Creek."

While it’s not clear if the railroad Norfolk Southern was to blame for the spilled beans, they are footing the bill to clean them up and restore the water.

In an emailed statement, a spokesperson for the Atlanta-based company said:

"On July 29th, three cars from a Norfolk Southern train derailed in Gainesville resulting in a release of soybeans. NS and our contractors responded immediately and worked to contain and remove the spilled material. There was no impact to Flat Creek. On Friday, August 12th, we were made aware of soybean material in Flat Creek about a mile away from the site of the derailment. We have a dedicated staff of environmental experts and contractors with experience in these types of incidents, and immediately responded to assist. That effort has been ongoing since Friday, and we’ll continue to work with our state partners to identify the source of the material and remove it from the creek. It’s important to note that soybeans are not hazardous, though do decompose over time as any other organic material would."

Risser says if the beans are left to rot any longer, the entire Chattahoochee ecosystem will suffer.  

"Progressively we’ll see more and more fish die because of those low [dissolved oxygen] levels," she said. "Every creek and water source we have in this area is very important. This creek leads into Lake Lanier and there are many water quality concerns and there are many people interested in preserving and protecting the health of the lake."

It’s not clear how long the mitigation process on the creek will take.