U.S. Waters Polluted by 10 Million Tons of Dog Poop

Yuck!! by Jennifer Mueller The 78 million dogs living in the United States create 10 million tons of feces annually, polluting waterways and posing a threat to public health, according to a pet waste removal service asking Americans to pledge to scoop the poop this Earth Day. Dog Waste Threatens Public Health USAToday reports that 40% of dog owners do not pick up their dog’s waste at all and all that waste pollutes waterways. Because scientists are able to track the origin of the fecal bacteria to the species that excreted it, we even know how much. One study showed as much as 90% of the fecal coliform in urban stormwater was of non-human origin, mostly dog. In just a couple of days, 100 dogs can deposit enough bacteria to temporarily close a bay, and all watershed areas within 20 miles of it, to swimming and fishing. Officials in Seattle consider waste from the city’s million dogs to be a major pollution source of Puget Sound. Dogs have also been shown to be a major source of water contamination in Clearwater, FL; Arlington, VA; and Boise, ID. So What’s a Responsible Dog Owner to Do? If you live in Cambridge, MA, you can drop your dog’s leavings into methane digesters to power the lights in some parks. If you live in Jefferson County, CO, you can join the poop patrol to remind your neighbors that there is no dog poo fairy (seriously). For the rest of us, the Natural Resources Defense Council has the following recommendations: First, you definitely should not let your dog’s droppings lay near water ways, curbs, or even in your yard. What you should do is . . . Wrap it in a plastic bag (biodegradable, corn-derived, or regular) and put it in the trash (though not all municipalities allow this). Flush it. Dog waste can be managed by most sewage treatment systems and some septic tanks. (Do not flush cat waste because the parasite Toxoplasma gondii can survive sewage treatment plants.) Install an underground pet waste digester. Basically a septic tank just for your pet. Bury it in your yard. Keep pet waste away from vegetable gardens, the water table, and streams and buried at least 5 inches deep. Always cover fresh waste with with dirt. Hire a poop collection service. Services will patrol your yard for poop on a weekly or bi-weekly schedule. (Doody Calls, a national dog waste control franchise based in Charlottesville, VA, created an infographic containing the image used in this post.) What a service does with the waste will vary, but you won’t have to handle it yourself. Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/u-s-waters-polluted-by-10-million-tons-of-dog-poop.html#ixzz1slOlWSmC