Why
dog poop is bad for rivers, community health
By Stephanie Lynn EBS CONTRIBUTOR
Evidence of Big Sky’s dog poop
problem resurfaces every spring, threatening both the environment and community
health.
“There are two factors in Big Sky
that are a bit unique that I would guess add to the risk,” said Bill Elledge,
the Big Sky Community Organization trail steward. “I think our community has a
higher proportion of dog owners than most, and especially large dogs, and I
imagine that the long winter and colder temps with a normally fairly rapid
spring thaw melt the ‘poopsicles’ pretty quickly and put a large load of
phosphorus and nitrogen, along with coliforms and other pathogens, into the
runoff and groundwater in a relatively brief period of time.”
To address the problem, Elledge and 19
other volunteers picked up 100 pounds of poop in less than two hours earlier
this spring. That’s enough crap to divert 21 pounds of nitrogen, 24 pounds of
phosphorus, and one trillion colony-forming units of fecal coliform from local
streams.
Everybody
poops, so what’s the big deal?
When bear, elk and other wildlife
defecate, they return nutrients to the soil while spreading thousands of seeds.
Dogs, on the other hand, eat nutrient-rich foods produced in factories. When
excreted, dog waste unbalances the natural system by adding high levels of
nitrogen and phosphorous to streams in the Big Sky area that already exceed state
standards for nutrient pollution.
Dog feces are also crawling with
bacteria. The “Los Angeles Times” reported that dogs produce about ten times
more fecal coliform per pound than cows. What’s more, dog waste carries 65
diseases that can be transmitted to humans, including whipworms, bookworms,
parvo, coronavirus, Giardia, Salmonella, Cryptosporidium and Campylobacter. In
fact, DNA tests conducted in Seattle identified a canine source for over 20
percent of the bacteria found in local waterways.
So,
what’s the solution to the pet ‘poo-pocalypse’?
It’s no secret that picking up after
your dog is the best way to prevent pet-waste pollution. Leave No Trace
suggests that responsible dog owners should, “both immediately pick up all of
the waste, and immediately take the bag(s) of waste away from the area for
proper disposal in a trash or compost bin.” In addition, Leave No Trace says
dog owners should bury dog doo, along with human waste, when recreating in the
backcountry.
Humans, however, aren’t picking up
after their pets when nature calls. A study conducted in Boulder, Colorado,
found that only 73.5 percent of dog owners collect all pet droppings. The
researchers found that infrastructure, such as conveniently-placed plastic bags
and trash receptacles, could boost scooping rates to over 90 percent when
coupled with community education.
Is
it really better for the environment to send dog waste to a landfill?
Plastic pollution is a serious
environmental problem; however, when dogs live in high density alongside their
humans, their waste must be appropriately treated and disposed of in order to
protect water quality, soil sanitation and community health. Just two- to
three-days-worth of droppings from a population of about 100 dogs contain
enough bacteria to temporarily close a bay and all waterways within 20 miles to
swimming and shellfishing, as estimated by the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency.
“I have to confess that my original
concern about doggy poop had more to do with the ‘yuk’ factor than with the
environmental and scientific issues,” Elledge said. “I think most people would
agree that dog waste is gross, especially if you happen to bring it home or to
your car on the bottom of your shoe. But I’m now more convinced that the
important issue is what it does to our watershed.”
Next time your pup drops a steaming
turd, please pick it up to keep our parks, trails and rivers clean.
Stephanie
Lynn is the education and communications coordinator for the Gallatin River
Task Force.
