The south fork of the Coquille River got more than its recommended daily allowance of vitamin D and calcium on Friday morning, when about 600 gallons of milk spilled at a dairy processing plant in Myrtle Point.

According to Ken Murphy, the director of the Oregon Department of Emergency Management, at around 9:45 a.m., emergency dispatchers were contacted by a Myrtle Point Wastewater Treatment Plant employee, who said milk was pouring into the sewage system and that the likely source was Valley Crest Foods Inc. located at 302 Second St.

“What he told us, was that a valve had been left open at Valley Crest Dairy and a large quantity of milk had spilled. And that it was going into the sanitary sewage system, and from there to the south fork of the Coquille River,” Murphy said.

While initial reports indicated about 10,000 gallons of milk had been lost, Myrtle Point City Manager, Randy Whobrey, who spoke with Valley Crest's plant manager Tom Berhow today, said the amount was much less - around 600 gallons, or about 5,000 pounds of milk.

“When the plant manager arrived and saw it, a representative did come to the (wastewater) plant and saw what was going on,” Whobrey said. “They had already took steps to minimize the spill within the (milk) facility.”

During an interview within hours after the spill, Berhow said he was still gathering information about the cause and amount of the spill.

“We are researching it,” he said.

Several state agencies - including the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, Oregon Department of Agriculture, Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife and Oregon State Police - all were notified of the spill, Murphy said.

“No matter what the substance is, there could be effects and it's our job to let people know,” Murphy said, noting that in similar milk spill cases across the state, milk had been known to hinder fish respiration.

“Milk does take oxygen out of the water,” Murphy said. “From a Fish & Wildlife perspective, there is always a concern.”

Two ODFW biologists did go out and evaluate the river.

“It appeared at first that it was fair amount, but when we went out there, with the river being so high and in such volumes, we felt it had pretty much dissipated,” said ODFW district biologist Stuart Love. “We don't expect it to cause a problem.”

Whobrey said to his knowledge, no fish were killed as a result of the spill.

Del Cline, an environmental analyst at the Coos Bay DEQ office, said milk spilled into the river would have an immediate impact on water quality and could place added stress on organisms' oxygen demands. However, due to the heavy rains and elevated river levels, the introduction of a lot of milk would have dispersed quickly. If the spill had happened in the middle of the summer, when flows are low and tides are minimal, “it could have been a lot different,” Cline said.

This is not the first time a milk spill has occurred at Valley Crest Foods.

Within the last five years, Whobrey said there has been an average of one spill per year, mostly due to mechanical failures. Because of the spills, the city has been working with Valley Crest on installing a spill tank. Whobrey said the dairy plant is now in the final stages of setting it up.

Whobrey agreed with others that had the spill happened during the summer, when water flows are lower, the spill could have endangered local fish. But in winter, the risk is minimal.

“It doesn't have quite the same impact this time of year,” Whobrey said.