Doing a bit of research before sending request to my city to help improve awareness for proper dog waste disposal.
Is it illegal or bad practice to dispose of dog waste bags into storm sewers and open waterways?
This isn't to target dog owners but to protect environment and teach kids good practice.
It was an eye opener this week.
We did an environmental day on Good Friday to remove litter from a large water calming reservoir.
This is a spot where water flows in from the storm sewer system, to settle debris out before it goes into farmers canal system to water vegetable crops.
The number 1 item removed was water bottles.
The second most popular item is dog waste bags. A surprising unbelievable amount.
Turns out it is very common practice that people dispose of the dog waste in the storm sewers rather than carry home for green bin.
These filled and tied bags now flow out and collect in these green spaces.
Few minutes after finishing, it was a bit much to watch a vehicle pull into the green space, park, walked to the water reservoir and throw in two dog waste bags and leave. Going out of their way to litter in this green space.
Also witnessed this week a person living around the corner, pick up dog waste from lawn with a shovel and dump the waste into the storm sewer system. The sad part, it was more than triple the walk to the storm sewer than it was to his green bin. Using the storm sewer system as the dog waste disposal system.
Please share any knowledge on rules for dog waste disposal & disposing waste into storm sewers to help correctly write my letter to city to support proper procedure for animal waste disposal while not saying anything negative about responsible dog owners.
Acknowledging the balance between the animals natural right to go vs ignorant human behavior by a few in populated zones.
Showing the kids by example to keep our local green space beautiful and local grown crops safe by keeping water E.Coli counts low.