Iowa Beef Processors Waste Pond Failure, 1993

The Iowa Beef Processors (IBP) Waste Pond was originally constructed in 1971 and was used for the storage of wastewater from the IBP Beef Processing Plant near Wallula, about 12 miles southeast of Pasco, Washington (Figure 1). When full, the waste pond had a surface area of 37 acres and stored about 270 acre-feet of wastewater and sediment from the adjacent cattle feedlot. The pond was created by construction of a 15-foot high, 1,000-foot long earthfill dam across a natural ephemeral drainage course. The dam was not provided with any spillways, and thus could not pass any flood runoff from the 55 square mile drainage basin above the dam.