Shall the Town of Hampton vote to amend the Code of Ordinance to regulate the handling, transportation, and disposal of animal waste.
Amend the Code of the Town of Hampton by adding to Chapter 18 Animals the following new Section to be number 18-13:
18-13 Handling, Transportation, and Disposal of Animal Waste
- No person who is the owner, keeper, trainer or person in charge of a dog or other animal, temporarily or otherwise, permit such animal to defecate in violation of the provisions of this Chapter without the necessary actions to immediately remove such defecate in a safe and sanitary manner.
- Defecation removed in compliance with the provisions of this Chapter shall be placed in a plastic bag or similar container and placed in a solid waste container for disposal at a solid waste facility.
- Disposing of animal defecation by being placed in or transported to a public or private sewer, storm drain or storm drainage system, or any part thereof, whether public or private shall be a violation of this Ordinance.
- Any person found to have placed any animal defecation in a public or private sewer, storm drain or storm drainage system shall be fined $1,000 for each such action and shall be responsible for all costs incurred in the cleaning of the system up and until it passes any test required under State and Federal Storm Water Quality requirements or regulations.
And
Amend the Code of the Town of Hampton by adding to Chapter 406-6 Use of Public Sewers Subsection C the following:
(5) Animal Defecation? (Majority vote required
What it means: This article would establish a local ordinance with stated penalties to help guide appropriate pet-ownership practices and prevent animal waste from ending up in the storm drains. Water fed into in storm drains does not receive any filtering but rather goes straight into our streams and ponds and the ocean.
Those in favor say: This article is necessary to protect our water from unhealthy levels of fecal matter. Specifically, the Town needs this code in order to meet the guidelines set by EPA under the MS4 regulations (Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems).
Those against say: There is no clear investigation or enforcement protocol.
Fiscal Impact: No tax impact.
ITKH side note: Storm Drains in just about every municipality are regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) permit program. The EPA, by issuing this permit, is giving approval for a municipality to discharge storm water to surface waters with the understanding that only clean storm water will be released. The community then becomes responsible for ensuring that nothing enters the system that can pollute its lakes, rivers, and streams.
Ideally, the only thing that should enter a storm drain is clean, uncontaminated rainwater.
When pet owners collect pet waste and toss the waste & wrapper onto the street or directly into storm drains, the wrapper degrades and the animal waste becomes part of the storm water discharge.