Thousands of pounds of dog waste contaminating half of Whatcom County water supply
The city of Bellingham has a big poop problem, courtesy of humans’ best friend. Now, the city is trying a novel approach to get dog owners to scoop up their pooches’ poop!
Sixteen-thousand pounds worth of dog waste is what they’re dealing with in Bellingham every day. That is the equivalent of about four large cars.
And it’s all contaminating the lakes and streams around the city.
You could say this story just stinks. But this is a serious problem here in Bellingham because the poop that is left behind is contaminating a precious source of water, for half of Whatcom County.
We met Clemmie and her human on one of their multiple dog walks at Bloedel Donovan Park. And Adam Hewitt is used to stepping in to pick up other people’s dog’s poop. After all, Clemmie is apparently too fastidious to do her business here.
“She won’t poop here unless it’s an emergency,” confided Hewitt. “She has to be in her own yard. Peace and quiet.”
In other words, Clemmie can’t go just anywhere. “No, she can’t,” said her human.
Still, Clemmie is contributing to the 16,000 pounds of waste she and her fellow pooches are dropping in Bellingham every day.
“A day!” exclaimed Travis Perry, a Bellingham resident. “That is a lot of poop.”
Get a load of this! Sixteen thousand pounds of poop is just under the weight of a full-grown elephant, a trio of rhinos, or the always impressive T-Rex!
“The number is something that I really haven’t contemplated,” admitted Travis laughing. “That is a pretty outstanding number.”
And Travis knows it’s no laughing matter. Dog poop that isn’t picked up ends up in lakes and streams, including Lake Whatcom, the water supply for half the county, including his house.
“So, it ends up being one of these things,” he said. “Again, I don’t like to pick up other people’s poop, but if it’s on my road, I’m grabbing it and tossing it into my can.”
So, Whatcom County is asking dog owners to take the “We Scoop Pledge,” offering prizes to the best poop scoopers.
“They said there’s this contest,” said Hewitt . “And I’d just taken that picture. So, I’ll enter it.”
Making Clemmie a Scoop Poop star.
The city’s public works department tells us more than 21,000 dogs live in Bellingham. So, their humans need to scoop their poop, for everyone’s sake.
