Who knew that the problem is dog poo? What to do?

On the front page of this paper a few weeks back, the hilarious photo of the Dog Parade to end “Poo-llution” (“March to End ‘Poo’llution’,” July 11) in Short Beach first alerted me to the "pooblem".

Then I heard a great radio interview on WPKN (89.5 FM) that aired July 18, with Ann Davis, a Short Beach neighbor and citizen scientist, along with Amy Scholtz, deputy director of the East Shore District Health Department, hosted by another neighbor, Richard Hill, discussing the campaign to clean up dog "poo-llution" from the beaches of Short Beach— and throughout Branford as well as the whole shoreline. The discussion was as entertaining as it was informative—the ingenuity and creativity of Short Beach citizens never ceases to amaze! Here’s the link: https://soundcloud.com/wpkn895/clean-short-beach-stop-poo-llution

Then a few days later, while at Town Hall paying taxes (ickier than dog poo), I picked up “Here’s the Scoop… Pick up After Your Pet,” a brochure produced by the www.CleanWaterCampaign.com What I didn’t realize is that when it rains, especially hard—all that water runs off the land and roads into stormwater that cascades into storm drains and drainage ditches which then flow onto our beaches, into rivers, streams, wetlands. Stormwater pollution is the biggest threat to our waterways— who wants to swim, fish, drink polluted waters? A single gram of your fido’s poop contains an average of 23 million fecal coliform bacteria, some which cause diseases in humans.

It all starts with bagging the dog poop and disposing of it properly—well away from beaches and waterways!

Want more information? Contact Friends of Farm River Estuary, Short Beach Civic Association, or the Engineering Department page at Branford-CT.gov.

Wanda Bubriski

Branford