When considering the ecological effects of massive discharges of treated or untreated excrement into our rivers, streams, and estuaries, the issue is not just human waste. The fact is, animals generate 130 times more excrement than humans nationwide. So, we must also consider proper management of the manure generated by the hundreds of millions of domestic animals we keep as pets or maintain as food stock.

The issue can be as small as realizing our individual responsibility to pick up and properly dispose of the snicker doodles our pooches leave on the sidewalks and in the street gutters before the waste is washed through the storm sewer system and into a nearby trout stream or swimming lake.

Or the concern can be as massive as the manure management required at cattle feedlots, poultry plants, and swine operations where meat production results in millions of tons of dung that may potentially pollute the storm water run-off, ground water, and fresh water streams used as wildlife habitat and sources of drinking water.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, through its Natural Resources Conservation Service, advises, requires, and pays farmers to engage in specific manure management programs designed to safely stockpile and dispose of animal waste.

State and locally funded Soil and Water Conservation Districts run education and outreach programs that encourage farmers and animal owners to employ best management practices such as grass filter strips between stock pens and adjacent waterways or ponds.

Many land grant colleges have agricultural extension services that help citizens understand and address manure management effectively.

Many government agencies and educational institutions maintain extensive Web sites to dispense data detailing practices for properly managing and disposing pet and farm animal wastes. State and local government generously subsidize the cost of installing agricultural best management practices.

It is perplexing when reports of manure spills, fish kills, and E. coli contamination of public waters fill the media. Take for example a recent incident in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, where about 1.8 millions tons of liquid manure discharged from a 12-inch PVC tile into the headwaters of Point Creek in late November 2004.

In agricultural settings, PVC tile often is part of a subsurface system of drains used to draw excess storm water off farm fields so that crops are not drowned out. Farmers routinely spread manure across the surface of cropland to dispose of the waste and take advantage of its fertilizing properties. Centuries of observation and common sense tells us that natural processes will ensure that a thinly applied layer of manure decomposes quickly, and that the soil usually filters most organic pollutants before they contaminate the underlying groundwater.

So, what happened at Point Creek? Was an immense quantity of manure stockpiled or spread on porous soil overlaying a shallow or broken drain tile system, or did someone intentionally dump two million tons of liquid manure directly into an inlet to the subsurface system?

Manitowoc County executive Dan Fischer says, "I am truly uncertain yet where the liquid manure came from." Fischer said if the cause of the spill is a defective tile line or an underground crevasse, it can be easily addressed. However, if the issue is connected to how state and federal agencies mandate manure management, "then it becomes a horse of a different color," concluded Fischer.

What Fischer is referencing is that according to Wisconsin's recommended best management practices, liquid manure is injected into the soil; and from there, it is assumed that the soil will filter the manure before it reaches the porous drain tiles typically three to four feet underground.

While Fischer continues to investigate the source of Point Creek's massive manure pollution, Russ Tooley, director of Centerville CARES, a grassroots environmental group, questions the system of using liquid manure injection on land with subsurface drain tiles.

"Point Creek seemed to be recovering from prior contamination during the summer, but this will set us back again," said Tooley. Cropland with drain tiles and modern farming methods that spray liquid manure over those tiles are always a disaster just waiting to happen. Liquid manure drains just like water, but it kills our fish and poisons our water," Tooley explained.

While no game fish or large rough fish are documented as killed yet, some small, dead minnows were collected by the state DNR, and believed killed by the manure spilled into Point Creek. Raw manure, as well as other organic waste, draws dissolved oxygen from creek water to accomplish decomposition, thereby depleting the oxygen fish require to breath.

Tom Ward, director of the Manitowoc County Soil & Water Conservation District said his department has not experienced many problems with polluted discharges from subsurface drain systems. Both Ward and Fischer stress the importance of studying the effect of drainage tile discharge to identify methods to reduce environmental impact while maintaining and improving farm profitability, such as the study project at Discovery Farms.

With more than five tons of livestock manure produced each year for every person in the United States, compared to 80 pounds of solid human waste, is critical that we who are pet owners and farmers, or who have neighbors who keep animals learn, practice, and preach methods of proper animal waste management.

Find out which agencies in your community receive and respond to reports of illegal dumping of human or animal excrement into public waters. If you see evidence of an illicit discharge, call the hotline. Adopt a stream, or join with volunteer stream monitors in programs like HoosierRiverwatch. Be aware and get involved.