by Doug Moran
I love my dog, Minnie. Heck, we all love our dogs. But did you know that our dogs deposit about 120,000 tons of poop a year? That’s 240,000,000 lbs a year!
Minnesota has about 900,000 dogs. And between them all, they poop about .73 lbs per day!
All this poop contributes about 20% of the bacteria found in our lakes, rivers and streams,   and spreads nasty stuff like Giardia and Salmonella! In fact dog poop is the 3rd largest source of bacterial pollution in urban watersheds!
That’s not all! The nitrogen and phosphorus found in dog poop also raises havoc by fertilizing algae and other things which deplete the oxygen aquatic wildlife needs to survive.
So take these 3  simple steps to reduce the impact of dog poop in our waterways!

1. Always carry poop bags with you, in fact, take extra bags so you don’t run out, or so you can help others
2. Make sure your poop bags end up in the garbage can, not left in parks or trails!
3. And pick it up when your dog poops in your yard.

It’s easy, and it will make a difference.  Thanks to Cleanwater.org for providing the info for this post!

Editor's Note:  Doug Moran is a TCTU Board Member and our self-appointed Poop Czar.  He is the number one advocate for solving the number 2 problem.

by Yves Charron

Good times in Preston!!!!

Good TCTU participation, weather was great, water levels were excellent, the fish were biting, what more can you ask for!!! 

We kicked-off the weekend with a meet and greet dinner on Friday.  A few new faces this year….it was nice to see.

Then, we stopped at the river for a bug talk with Vaughn Snook (DNR) and some basic fishing techniques on the river.  No cicadas sighting to report, but some BWO.

​Thank you for the ones who joined me in Preston.

See you next year!
​
Yves Charron
TCTU Treasurer

​

by Jim Sauter

Greetings from TCTU Streamkeepers.  

Wow.  What a difference a year makes.  Last year at this time we had extreme heat and drought.  This year we have cooler weather, flooding, and drought concerns have vanished.  Typically, we ask our stream monitors to take at least three of our stream monitoring readings within one day after a major rain event.  This is not a problem this year!

We all know that Minnesota has a nitrate problem. 

We know that nitrate is bad for humans (cancer, thyroid disease--especially for infants), bad for aquatic life, and bad for our economy ($210 billion/year).

27% of surface water tested by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency exceeds the EPA limit of 10 mg/L.  And 10 percent of the private wells sampled in southwestern, southeastern, central, and north-central Minnesota have nitrate levels above 10 mg/L.

So what can you do about it? A lot. A few simple things!

1. If you fertilize your lawn, use only “slow release” nitrogen fertilizer.
2. Keep your lawn clippings in your yard (or compost) & off the street, you can reduce your fertilizer load by 25%!
   
3. Pick up pet waste
   
4. Join Adopt-A-Drain (https://adopt-a-drain.org) and keep your storm sewer drains clean.
   
5. Practice landscaping for clean water. Your soil & water conservation district has some tips. Here’s the Dakota SWCD’s site Landscaping for Clean Water - 2024 - Dakota County-SWCD but look for your local site.
   

​
Do your part! It’s easy to reduce the amount of nitrate you add into our groundwater!

​PS:  If you’d like to learn more about Nitrates, please click here for a great article on the MNTU website.