It could be extensive.

Walt Baker, acting director of the state's Division of Water Quality, said Tuesday that the spill has put a "significant organic load" into the rivers that could potentially kill fish, as well as create ammonia problems.

"During the floods in St. George [last month] we had a major sewage break that put a million gallons of wastewater into the river a day, caused significant damage and forced us to issue a health advisory," said Baker. "This time, we didn't have that luxury. But about the same amount of wastewater went in, and the chicken manure is hotter stuff."

Baker says test results won't be available until later this week, but noted that the company, Ritewood Eggs, has no permit to discharge wastewater. It does have a permit for a "25-year" storm runoff event, but even then, only restricted flows would be allowed. Depending on the test results and the extent of the damage, Baker said, a hefty fine could be in the offing.

Company officials feared a wastewater retention pond near their compost facility was about to breach, and decided to relieve the pressure by gouging an opening in one of the pond's berms with a tractor hoe.

But instead of settling into an adjacent field, much of the wastewater flowed into a nearby irrigation ditch, which carried it to the Cub River, then down to the Bear River. The poultry farm is near the confluence of the two streams, not far from the towns of Richmond and Lewiston.

Ritewood Eggs co-owner Mark Woodward said he was unaware of the spill until state officials brought it to his attention. He blamed the problem on the high water levels caused by heavy snowfall and last week's thaw, but said the company moved quickly to stanch the flow and halted all discharges into the the river by last Friday.

"We feel fairly comfortable with what we have done," he said. "At the same time, this is just really unfortunate. We've spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to prevent something like this, now we're into a year where we've had a lot of snow and a lot of water. Typically, we don't have any problems."

However, Ritewood's neighbors have been complaining about the poultry farm - which houses 750,000 to a million hens - for the past couple of years, pointing to problems with flies and manure smells. One observer, who witnessed the spill and alerted state officials, said it could have and should have been avoided.

"They say they worried about a breach, but they opened it up where it would have broken anyway," said Mark Cardall, whose property is near the Ritewood facility. "If they were so concerned about it breaking, why didn't they dig it out so it would flow in a different direction?"

Woodward said the spill could have been contained sooner had neighbors informed the company first instead of state officials.

"I'm certain we could have minimized the problem if we'd known about it in time," he said.

Cardall remains skeptical.

"There was never an attempt to stop it or check on it," he said. "I can't prove it, but I think their whole attitude was, 'Let it rip.' "

jbaird@sltrib.com