Thousands of fish killed in Homewood creek following Barber’s Dairy spill

Thousands of fish turned up dead Monday in a Homewood creek, killed by a lack of oxygen when dairy product waste flooded into the water.

Alabama Department of Environmental Management spokesman Jerome Hand said about 100 gallons of wastewater spilled into the creek off West Oxmoor Road from a nearby dairy plant. It is believed a clogged drain caused the overflow into the creek, which eventually flows into Shades Creek and finally into the Cahaba River. No chemicals spilled into the creek, he said, just a sugary milk-like byproduct of milk and ice cream.

“We don’t believe there will be any long-term impact on the environment,” said Hand, who added that the creek has since been cleaned up.

The spill came from the Barber’s Dairy facility, not the Mayfield Dairy Farms plant as had been previously reported. Both are owned by Dean Foods.

“It can be confusing since both logos are on the building,” said Dean Foods Company spokesperson Jamaison Schuler about the initial mix-up, “but the spill originated from our Barber’s operations and doesn’t really have anything to do with Mayfield.”

Cahaba Riverkeeper Executive Director Mrya Crawford, Ph.D., said her colleagues were on site to document the spill and collect samples.

“We are tasked with ensuring the clean water act is followed,” said Crawford.

It is believed the fish died of a lack of oxygen, she said, when the creek filled with the waste material. Unfortunately, said Crawford, their estimates on the number of fish killed far exceed the one initially released by ADEM.

“It’s not 200 dead fish like ADEM is reporting,” said Crawford. “It’s far more than that.

“Cahaba Riverkeeper David Butler, who saw the dead fish firsthand, said he estimates the death toll to be in the thousands.

The spill happened sometime Monday morning, he said, and crews were on site by the afternoon cleaning up the water and removing dead fish. Butler said he went back to the site Tuesday morning and continued down the creek path toward Snow Drive. It was there, he said, where he discovered more dead fish floating in the water.

Butler said this at least the third time the Barber plant has a spill of this nature, and added that he must give them credit for self-reporting the issue.

“In the future, we’d like to know what is going on sooner,” said Butler, “so that when concerned residents call us, we have answers for them.”

Barber’s is responsible for the cost of the cleanup and could face addition fines pending the investigation.