The Mississippi River is being watched closely nearly a week after a train derailment spilled ethanol in the water. Samples are being analyzed from the site, just north of Dubuque, all the way down to Muscatine.
Kevin Baskins from the Iowa DNR says 305,000 gallons have been recovered, but that leaves 55,000 gallons unaccounted for.
At the site, ethanol levels in the Mississippi are many times higher than what's considered toxic. But a mile downstream, Baskins says it's way below toxic levels.
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Does not seem to have caused much oxygen depletion in the river.
Samples were even taken Monday near Muscatine, 130 miles downstream, figuring that's how far the "plume" of ethanol could have traveled since the derailment last Wednesday.
