The Scoop on Poop: Pet Waste a Major Polluter of Urban Waterways, Studies Show

Do you pick up after your dog?

By CLARA VAUGHN Capital News Service When you fail to pick up after your pooch, you may be doing more than irking the next-door neighbors.    Studies conducted over more than a decade in watersheds across the state have found that pets produce up to one-third of bacterial pollution in waterways near developed areas. That's right. Dog poop is the source of startling amounts of E. coli, Giardia, salmonella and other microscopic pathogens in local waters.    In extreme cases, 68 percent of bacterial pollution in the Severn River watershed has been recorded as coming from pet waste. And a whopping 87 percent of bacterial pollution in the Magothy River's Forked Creek tributary has been traced back to pets.    The findings come from more than 50…

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