Mobile Bay NEP to deploy trained dogs to screen Fly Creek for sewage sources
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Summary
The Mobile Bay National Estuary Program outlined a pilot using certified detection dogs to prescreen water samples for human sewage in Fly Creek this winter; dogs will screen samples to reduce laboratory testing, and EPA partners will perform confirmatory lab analyses.
The Mobile Bay National Estuary Program told the Fairhope City Council on Jan. 27 that it will deploy a canine-led screening program to help locate sources of human sewage in Fly Creek, a stream listed under state impaired waters monitoring for elevated E. coli.
Nicole of the NEP introduced Cody, the program lead, who said the approach is intended as a rapid, lower-cost prescreening tool to point scientists toward samples that warrant laboratory analysis. Cody said the dogs are trained to indicate human waste specifically, discriminating human from animal sources, and that the dog used in the program has gone through third-party certification and double-blind testing. He described prior pilot sampling in which the canine alerts exceeded what conventional laboratory methods readily detected; the team recalibrated the dog to alert at regulatory-relevant concentrations.
Cody said the program will use existing sample sites along Fly Creek and that the EPA has agreed to provide laboratory confirmatory analysis for subset samples. The field work is scheduled for February–March, with community outreach events planned to explain findings and the limits of the method. Cody emphasized the canine approach is a screening tool, not a replacement for laboratory analysis, and that identifying sources will require follow-up work by utilities, landowners or other responsible parties.
Council members asked whether the dogs could confuse animal and human sources; Cody responded they were trained to indicate human waste only, and staff noted that nonpoint sources such as decaying organic matter can drive elevated E. coli readings and that the canine screening helps prioritize samples for lab work.
What happens next: Field sampling will proceed in February–March; NEP said it will return to report results and describe how city funds were used.
