Nancy Miller, TAPP Project Coordinator     Research by Tallahassee Stormwater Management Division

My pet can’t be part of a water pollution problem. My pet is a member of the family! He watches TV with me on the sofa. He sleeps in my lap.

 Of course, it’s not your pet alone, and sure, you keep your pet clean.  The pollution results when we add all of our pets together.  Research by the American Pet Products Manufacturers’ Association shows that 40% of U.S. households have at least one dog.   Based on public information survey results and the fact that many area residents have more than one dog, our stormwater experts estimate that there are approximately 70,000 –75,000 dogs in Tallahassee.

 This isn’t just a problem in our community.

Water pollution from pet waste isn’t just a Tallahassee problem. It inevitably occurs when we concentrate ourselves - and our pets - into cities. There is no sewage treatment for pet waste.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been studying the problem of water pollution from pet waste for several years. EPA reports that 2-3 days’ worth of pet waste from just 100 dogs in a 20 square mile watershed can contribute enough bacteria to temporarily close a bay to swimming and shell fishing (US EPA, 1993).  Pet waste also contributes to nutrient pollution in our local waterways.

So, why pick on dogs?

Well, here is what studies are indicating:

http://www.co.thurston.wa.us/shellfish/pdf/HENDERSON2003.pdf

So, as you can see, there’s a special problem with dogs. Dogs are built to eat almost anything, and they have a large number of diverse intestinal bacteria to deal with that wide variety of food. Combine that with the sheer numbers of dogs we have crammed into our little town of 100 square miles and the problem becomes significant.

Yes, there are animals in nature but they aren’t concentrated the way we’ve concentrated our pets.

Sure, there are wild animals all around us and they have always been here. But look at the chart again. Wild rabbits have only 20 fecal bacteria per gram of waste. And mice, which most of us think of as relatively unsanitary, have only 330,000 per gram compared to 23 million per gram in dog waste. Even horses come in with only 12,600 fecal coliforms per gram. Dogs win this race.

We import nutrients to feed our pets. Wild animals eat what is available in the natural landscape. For our pets, we buy food that is shipped in and then later deposited on the ground, thereby increasing local nutrient loads

Besides, just because we can’t affect the entire problem of water pollution, we shouldn’t ignore the part we can control.

It’s an issue of hygiene and good will… and good sense. Over half the residents of our community don’t have pets and shouldn’t have to deal with what ours leave behind.

So... What to do with pet waste?

·        Bury it in the yard.

·        Put it in the trash receptacle.

·        Flush it down the toilet (without the bag).

(Recommendations from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, http://www.epa.gov/nps/toolbox/other/wiexpets.pdf )