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Pet Waste, Water Quality & Your Health
Health and Environmental Risks of Pet Waste The District's Pet Waste Management Projects
Why you should pick up after your pet… Pet waste is the source of two types of pollutants: pathogens (disease-causing microorganisms), which have a direct effect on human health, and nutrients, which influence the environment you live in. When rain or snow melt runs over the land it can carry pollutants like uncollected pet waste directly or by way of a storm drain into nearby streams, lakes, ponds, or wetlands. This polluted stormwater runoff, also called Nonpoint Source Pollution, can degrade water quality, and impair aquatic health. Leaving pet waste on the ground in your neighborhood will risk contaminating nearby streams, lakes, beaches, your yard, neighborhood, local parks or even drinking water supplies, and makes waters unsuitable for recreation.
Is YOUR pet the problem? It may seem that your pet does not have much of an impact, but consider all of the other pets in your neighborhood, town, and even state. That is a lot of pets doing their daily business! Even if only a fraction of pet waste is not picked up it can really add up. When fecal bacteria are found in water, researchers are able to use a DNA-fingerprinting technique (microbial source tracking) to see whose waste it was. Often, dogs are found to be one of the major contributors of waste (www.stormwatercenter.net).
The Food and
Drug Administration estimates that, on average, one dog will produce
5.25 lbs/week 21 lbs/month 252 lbs/year!
But isn’t animal
waste natural?
What can you do? It’s simple! Pet waste pollution control begins with you:
Outreach
materials developed by the District:
To
learn more
about pet waste as a nonpoint source pollutant, please visit the following
sites:
What are
other communities doing?
Find dog-friendly places and parks to visit in Connecticut:
In the spring of 2007, the District developed and initiated “Give a Bark for a Clean State Park.” This pet waste education and outreach campaign focuses on our state parks in collaboration with the CT Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). The purpose of the campaign is to build awareness of the health and environmental risks of pet waste. This project is funded in part by the DEP through a US EPA Clean Water Act Section 319 grant. Chatfield Hollow State Park (Killingworth, CT) Working with Connecticut’s Chatfield Hollow State Park, a favorite place for many dog walkers, the District sponsored a campaign in the Summer of 2007. In addition to education on pet waste disposal, the project included establishing disposal stations and providing FREE pet waste bags for dog walkers’ convenience! Take a bag from one of our stations around the park to scoop your dog’s poop and use the trash bin for clean and safe disposal. This pet waste station map shows the locations of disposal stations in Chatfield Hollow.
With support from
Wadsworth Falls State Park, the District is
once again
spreading the word on the benefits of cleaning up dog waste. We will be in the
park on designated days
handing out FREE doggie bags full of human and
doggie treats!!! Be sure to look for our table during your walk and stop by to
say "Hi" and learn more!!
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