The James River Steward’s Almanac

The James and Fido

By Gabe Silver, JRA Education and Outreach Manager

Be a Friend of the River…scoop that pet poop.

While it’s easy to assume that our pet’s waste is “perfectly natural,” there’snothing natural about the concentration of large carnivores (like dogs and cats) in our suburban and urban neighborhoods. The truth is they produce a whole lot of poop that wouldn’t be there in a natural setting. Pet waste can contain bacteria, protozoa and roundworms that infect humans and cause serious disease. Left where dropped, pet waste can wash into our rivers where we obtain drinking water and where we enjoy swimming and fishing. Whether we flush it down the toilet, put it in the trash, or compost it at home (see precautions below), we’re doing much better by the river and our neighbors than by not picking it up at all.

Learn More:

Water Quality and Pet Waste Information

---

Be a Guardian of the River…and compost it!

Picking up after our pets, while on a walk or just around the backyard, is a great start towards reducing our harmful effects on the river. However, flushing the pet waste down the toilet or throwing it in the trash means that more energy will go into its ultimate disposal, either being treated as sewage or being hauled to a landfill. The very best thing we can do is to let it decompose into soil-enriching nutrients in our own backyards with a pet waste composter or digester system. It’s important not to mix dog and cat waste with ordinary compost that may go onto a vegetable garden. Instead, we must choose whether to build a carefully-monitored composter (where you can ensure that the pile reaches 140 F to kill pathogens) or build a pet waste digester. The digester method is more feasible for most of us without much time or know-how to devote to large-scale composting.

You can buy pre-made products or build your own digester. It’s essentially a mini-septic tank that allows bacteria to break down the waste into harmless nutrients that then leach into the soil. A plastic tank buried most of the way in the ground with holes drilled into it and some septic starter are pretty much all you need.

Learn More:


Video of Home Made Pet Waste Digester

Example of a Digester You Can Buy

Detailed Description of Composting System

---

View archived articles >>