- by Bruce Hall

The instances of stepping in left behind dog pooh are increasing at rates I have never seen before along the riverbank behind this property and in the mill dam valley. This river valley is the watershed that our drinking water comes from. Should the practice continue, the winter paths will no longer be maintained as I have done for well over a decade.  I see many dogs being walked - dogs need that, I understand - and have encouraged additional winter paths, but, the waste from pets is not a public problem until it is.

“Rover” , my backyard camera, covers the whole area. I see most owners picking up after their pooch.  I do not want to start posting dog photos with their owners in tag;  I very much prefer those posted by the owners themselves! I spoke to a gentleman this morning with two large dogs that his partner and he regularly bring to pooh.  He suggests that the river bank is not my property, but it is all of ours!

This snippet is from www.livescience.com

“poop is not exactly an environmental threat on the order of carbon pollution, nuclear waste or a Superfund site. Still, the risk from poop can be more than just a mess on your shoes. Dogs can harbor lots of viruses, bacteria and parasites — including harmful pathogens like e coli, giardia and salmonella. (A single gram contains an estimated 23 million bacteria.) Studies have traced 20 to 30 percent of the bacteria in water samples from urban watersheds to dog waste. Just two to three days of waste from 100 dogs can contribute enough bacteria, nitrogen and phosphorous to close 20 miles of a bay-watershed to swimming and shellfishing, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. It also can get into the air we breathe: a recent study of air samples in Cleveland, Ohio, and Detroit, Mich., found that 10 to 50 percent of the bacteria came from dog poop.

So while the stakes may be lower than say, radioactive waste, the question remains: What do we do with this s**t?”