Tractor Mishap Spills Agriculture Chemicals Into North Dakota River

By Jacob Orledge

The North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality is advising the public to avoid a 2-mile stretch of the Cannonball River in Hettinger County after a chemical spill Wednesday. 

The spill, which included 200 gallons of diluted herbicides and approximately 15 gallons of diesel, occurred Wednesday morning when a tractor and sprayer fell into the Cannonball River roughly a mile west of New England in southwest North Dakota. 

“From the sound of everything I was getting, I think he just got too close to the bank and the bank gave way,” said Bill Suess, manager of the Department of Environmental Quality’s spill investigation program.

The department is advising the public to avoid recreational activities in the river in a 1-mile radius around the spill and to avoid consuming any fish caught in the area. 

These are precautionary measures, Suess said, until his team receives the lab results from samples collected at the site in a week. Suess said he does not expect any long-term negative impacts from the spill. 

The sprayer had 22 gallons of concentrated herbicide, including glyphosate, dicamba, and 2,4-D, mixed with 1,400 gallons of water, Suess said. An estimated 200 gallons of that mixture spilled in the waterway before it was contained.

Approximately 15 gallons of diesel also spilled, causing a light sheen on the water. “We should have that pretty well cleared up already today,” Suess said Thursday. 

The river is not a source of drinking water, nor is there any risk of downstream effects, Suess said. 

The driver of the tractor was not hurt. 

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