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(AP) WAYSIDE State officials are looking into a spill of diluted manure at a dairy farm that occurred nearly two weeks before area residents began complaining about contaminated wells.

More than 2,000 gallons of diluted manure spilled Jan. 13 at Wayside Dairy in Brown County, said of the farm's owners, Dan Natzke.
"We took care of the problem immediately," he said Sunday.

Since then, Brown County health officials said they found 20 contaminated wells in the area, out of 42 tested. A boil order in the Wayside area was put in place last week because of coliform and E. coli bacteria in the wells.

Dave Bougie, agriculture runoff specialist with the state Department of Natural Resources, said he had not identified the spill as the cause of the contamination, though he continued to investigate.
"The farm did not report it immediately, but they did follow up with a written report," Bougie said.

Natzke said his farm could have caused the contamination, but he said no one knows for sure.
"We want clean water for the community, for us. We live here," he said. "But, hey, accidents do happen."

Brown County conservationist Bill Hafs said other farms in the area also spread waste material on their fields.
"We think wells are going bad because of land-spreading activities," Hafs said.