(ABC 6 News) – It was a close call in Austin, after about 50 gallons of pig blood and grease leaked into the storm sewer line earlier this month.

The leak led to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency stepping and to get the situation under control.

Back in the week of March 4, the city found a strong waste discharge in the Austin public wastewater system.

The city then reached out to Hormel and discovered the cause was faulty equipment.

A few weeks later on March 21, reports showed about 50 gallons of pork blood and grease diluted with about 20,000 gallons in the stormwater system, which connects to the Cedar River.

The MPCA said the incident did not affect the river.

“The problem was contained pretty rapidly, they went down to line to determine if there was any visible impact to the Cedar River, they did not see any immediate impact to the river which is good news,” MCPA communications specialist Stephen Mikkelson said.

According to the MCPA, the matter was contained later that same evening.

The city said they were able to minimize any damage the incident could’ve caused and they didn’t see any change to the wastewater flow.