Who's to blame for Hawthorn Woods fish kill?

There's no delicate way to put this.

Something has killed hundreds of fish in two private Hawthorn Woods ponds, and that "something" looked and smelled a lot like feces.

Where that feces could have come from is another question entirely. Lake County and Illinois Environmental Protection Agency officials are studying livestock manure and human feces from septic systems as possible sources.

"When it rains hard, it comes over the grass just in a stream," says Jim Keelan, who lives near one pond. "It's brown water … not very nice stuff."

After particularly heavy rains two weeks ago, Keelan and his neighbors in Brier Woods and Bridle Woods subdivisions say the ponds filled with sludge bearing an unmistakable odor.

"You see the brown manure floating," Keelan said. "When it's introduced to the water, it eats the oxygen. So there's no oxygen left for the fish."

Kevin Dahm, owner of Environmental Aquatic Management, was hired by the ponds' owners to clean and re-aerate the ponds. He said larger fish are the first to suffocate from lack of oxygen.

"We found oxygen levels below 2 parts per million and 1 part per million," Dahm said, noting organic matter uses oxygen to decompose.

Fish need about 3 parts per million of oxygen to survive, he said.

An estimated 600 to 800 fish, including bass, catfish, crappie and bluegill, died in the ponds, homeowners association President Dave Skiffington said.

"There were literally hundreds of fish floating in the pond," Skiffington said. "It was like fish soup."

And the stench was unbearable, he said.

"We couldn't even open the windows," he said. "You couldn't even go outside."

Mike Adam, senior biologist at the Lake County Health Department, said the county is investigating, and the IEPA confirmed it's also working to find the feces' origin.

But Skiffington and Keelan point to a dark patch of grass where they say rainwater sluices from a pond near neighboring Fox Creek Stable and a three-sided bin storing a 40-by-50-by-20-foot pile of manure. Neighbors blame Fox Creek's manure for their dead fish.

"They have (the manure) not contained," Keelan said, pointing out the proximity of another, smaller pond to Fox Creek's manure pile. "It's 10 feet away."

Skiffington admits the stable isn't breaking any county regulations by keeping the manure on its property, but said the owners should pay the $950 pond cleanup and $1,480 fish restocking fees.

A second stable is next to one of the ponds, but neighbors say it's likely not the source of the problem. It has a covered metal bin for manure disposal that is emptied every five days, Keelan said.

But Fox Creek stable owner Delores Lehnig said there's no telling where the feces came from.

"Why is it just us?" asked Lehnig, who said she wants to hear from the IEPA and the county. She said she wouldn't oppose having nearby stables pitch in if it's determined horse manure caused the problem.

Lehnig also said she's already asked the farmer who removes her manure do so more often.

"We're not ignoring them," she said. "I do want to get along with the neighbors."

Steve Tolzien, who owns the Fox Creek stable property, said the county told him it's more likely an issue with septic systems overflowing.

"They feel it's a human fecal issue," Tolzien said. "That's what I've heard so far."

He added there's an east-west storm drain designed by Lake County that runs through his property.

"I can't see how any manure from my farm is getting out into that lake," Tolzien said.

No matter who or what is responsible, Dahm said, last month's heavy rains were so unusual, property owners may never have a similar fish die-off again.

"I don't think they'll see it again for a long, long time -- if at all," he said. "I've never seen an August like this ever."