Clean Water For All
A Proposal for Pet Waste Disposal in Alabama Parks
Submitted to: Lowe's Community Partners
Date: November 1, 2013
Alabama Clean Water Partnership
P.O. Box 3623
Montgomery, AL 36109
Phone: (205) 266-6285
Office/Fax: (334) 514-8326
www.cleanwaterpartnership.org
Clean Water for All: A Proposal for Pet Waste
Disposal in Alabama Parks
Project Abstract
The Alabama Clean Water Partnership is requesting $19,911 from the Lowe’s Charitable and
Educational Foundation to place pet waste disposal stations in municipal parks throughout the
state of Alabama in order to combat the contamination of the state’s waters (e.g. via dog poop)
and to help educate the local populace on the importance of proper pet waste disposal. Because
this disposal is often thought either inconvenient or unnecessary, many pet owners refrain from
cleaning up their pet’s feces. During storms, this waste is washed into nearby bodies of water.
This activity has already rendered many of Alabama’s waters unsafe for drinking, recreational
activity, and wildlife habitation.
Installation of pet waste disposal stations would make fecal cleanup much more convenient for
pet owners, while the planned awareness-raising campaigns (e.g., door hanger distribution) will
help pet owners realize the importance of properly disposing of their pets’ droppings. The
resulting reduction of pet waste in Alabama’s waters will help render them safe for future use.
Statement of Need
Clean water is essential. Human activity, directly and indirectly, depends on reliable access to
clean water: we use it for things as integral as drinking water and as mundane as watering our
lawns. It is an important, yet often neglected, component of both a healthy environment and a
thriving community.
Within the state of Alabama, our water quality is threatened. Many of the state's water bodies are
now contaminated and in danger of becoming unusable because of urban runoff and other human
activities. As a result of this contamination, many of these bodies now reside on the EPA's
303(d) list of impaired waters [1], a list reserved for waters that no longer meet federal water
quality standards. Why is this important? In Alabama, many households still use wells for
drinking water, water which may be contaminated by aboveground rivers and streams. Many
other uses for Alabama's waters—uses such as recreational activity and wildlife preservation—
are threatened by fecal contaminants.
In urban environments, especially parks, pet owners frequently take their dogs out for walks,
letting them relieve themselves without removing the waste, often because proper waste disposal
is unavailable or inconvenient to access. When it rains, the water carries its fecal payload into
nearby streams, contaminating these streams and the bodies of water they flow into. This practice
has contributed to the contamination of many of Alabama's waters, rendering them unsafe for
many of their major uses. This also directly impacts the communities that depend on these waters
for consumption and recreational use.
The Alabama Clean Water Partnership (ACWP) recognizes the importance of protecting
Alabama's waters, and seeks to become part of the solution for long-term water quality. As a
coalition of private-interest groups seeking to coordinate the protection and preservation of
Alabama's waters, the ACWP is uniquely suited to help direct measures that seek to protect these
bodies. The AWCP has noted the prominence of pet waste in the pollution of the state's waters,
and believes there is a need to provide communities with a way to safely and conveniently
dispose of their pet waste and thereby preserve something we all depend on: our water.
We believe the contamination due to pet waste occurs primarily because pet owners are either
unaware of the hazards pet waste poses to the environment or unable to easily access disposal
stations and materials. To address this issue, the ACWP is seeking funding to install pet waste
disposal stations in parks across the state of Alabama and to educate and inform the local
communities of the benefits of properly disposing of their pets' fecal matter. To that end, we
respectfully request either $19,911 in funds from the Lowe's Community Partners grant to
complete this program or an in-kind donation of 33 of Lowes’ pet waste disposal stations plus
$4,925 for educational and other expenses.
Project Description
The primary solution to the pet waste problem is installing the pet waste stations. Each station
consists of a waste receptacle and a bag dispenser attached to a post. Signs indicating the
organizations and community partners responsible for placing and maintaining the stations will
be appended to the post itself (see Appendix 1). To increase community awareness of the new
disposal stations, ACWP will organize community volunteers to distribute door hangers detailing
the benefits of using the new disposal stations. Installation and maintenance of the waste disposal
stations will be handled by local municipalities, who will be able to defray all costs associated
with this maintenance by counting it toward their stormwater protection requirements [2][3].
The schedule of the project is extremely flexible: station installation will be coordinated with the
participating municipalities at a projected rate of two parks per month, with a minimum of three
parks involved in the project. The first part of the month will be spent on raising awareness via
door hanger distribution and other volunteer activities while sites for the pet waste stations are
chosen; the second part of the month will involve coordinating with city employees on the
installation of the stations. This process will continue until all the purchased pet waste stations
have been installed; a procedure that could take 2-5 months, depending on the final number of
parks chosen to place the stations.
Project Activities
Parks 1 and 2: Awareness campaign, canvassing,
door hanger distribution, and site choice
Parks 1 and 2: Waste station installation
Parks 3 and 4: Awareness campaign, canvassing,
door hanger distribution, and site choice
Parks 3 and 4: Waste station installation
*Parks 5 and 6: Awareness campaign, canvassing,
door hanger distribution, and site choice
*Parks 5 and 6: Waste station installation
*Parks 7 and 8: Awareness campaign, canvassing,
door hanger distribution, and site choice
Parks 7 and 8: Waste station installation
*Parks 9 and 10: Awareness campaign, canvassing,
door hanger distribution, and site choice
*Parks 9 and 10: Waste station installation
1
Project Timeline (months)
2
3
4
*Schedule continues until the number of targeted parks is reached. The final number of parks
that will receive pet waste stations will be decided by negotiations with the various
municipalities involved.
5
Evaluation
The success of this program can be measured on a yearly basis by calculating the number of
waste disposal bags used. When municipal employees check and refill the stations, which store
bags in rolls of 200, they can note which stations are empty and approximate how many bags
were used in stations that were partially depleted. Each municipality can then report their total
estimated bag usage for the year back to the ACWP. The yearly totals can be compared against
each other to track the increasing or decreasing efficacy of pet waste disposal. This evaluation
method provides the best way to track the efficacy of the program; pet waste is a direct cause of
water contamination, so a reduction in the pet waste entering local watersheds directly affects the
quality of the associated waters.
Sustainability
Each municipality can count money spent on maintenance of the pet waste disposal stations
toward their EPA requirements for stormwater management. The amount of maintenance
required is relatively minimal: park employees should check each station approximately once per
month and restock dwindling bag supplies. The calculations in the budget, which are based on an
approximate bag usage rate of 200 bags per station per month, arrive at a modest sum which
municipalities will be able to pay, counting their expenditures toward their federal stormwater
protection requirements.
The only long-term issue with the sustainability of this project is the lifespan of the pet waste
disposal stations themselves. Each station is installed securely in-ground and features
thermoplastic coating for rust and UV protection, meaning the stations' life spans should be a
decade at the minimum. At this point, the cost-effectiveness of the stations can be compared with
the actual life span to determine if new pet waste stations should be installed to replace failing
old ones.
Budget
Item/Service
Nonpersonnel costs
Yearly bag restocking
Pet Waste Station1
Sign
Door Hangers2
Travel (fuel)3
Subtotal of Nonpersonnel
Costs
Personnel Costs
Station install4
Station maintenance5
Hanger distribution6
Subtotal of Personnel Costs
TOTAL
1
In-Kind Costs ($)
Requested from Sponsor ($)
1,584
-
14,987*
3,300
1,425
200
1,584
19,911
132
528
0
660
2,244
-
19,912
Lowe's Ultra Play 15-Gallon Commercial Pet Waste Station with Bag Dispenser: 33 units @ $454.13
per unit
2
Progressive Image Communications, Inc: 2,500 hangers @ $0.57 per hanger
3
Estimated travel allowance (62.5 gallons at $3.20/gal)
4
Installation of the waste stations to be completed by park personnel: 0.5 hr per station × 33 stations ×
$8.00/hr estimated wage
5
Waste stations will be emptied, cleaned, and generally maintained by park staff-estimated yearly cost:
10min/station per month × 12 months × 33 stations × $8.00/hr, plus replacement bags @ estimated usage
of 200bags/station per month: 200 × 12 months × 33 stations × $0.02 per bag
6
Distribution of hangers will be completed by local community volunteers
*Pet waste stations may also be received as an in-kind donation
Sources
[1] "ADEM 303d List." Internet:
http://adem.alabama.gov/programs/water/wquality/2012AL303dList.pdf, May 21, 2012
[November 8, 2013]
[2] "National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES)." Internet:
http://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/stormwater/munic.cfm, July 25, 2013 [November 8, 2013].
[3] "National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES)." Internet:
http://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/stormwater/menuofbmps/index.cfm, April 3, 2012 [Number 8, 2013]
Appendix 1: Attached Pet Waste Station Sign (Draft)