Poop in the water

By Jeff SwitzerHerald Writer
What smells bad, sticks to shoes and piles up at a rate of 20 tons per day -- and not just during election years?Ask Snohomish County dog owners.The county's estimated 126,000 dogs produce enough poop to rival a city of 32,000 people."This is essentially the equivalent of the human waste of the city of Lynnwood or Bothell dumped in back yards every day," said Kathy Thornburgh, a county water and habitat sciences supervisor.It's a big problem that county officials have spent four years studying. Clean water experts say streams are suffering whenever a dog's business isn't cleaned up, and the county is wrapping up a $475,000 campaign on how to solve the problem.So far, officials spent some of the money trying to block animal waste from running into county streams.Other money is being spent on education and on study and experimentation to find the right way to persuade homeowners with pets to "scoop the poop, bag it and put it in the trash."