Learn about the use of dogs to track sewage pollution

The 29th Pacific Islands Environmental Conference next month, June 13-15, at the Saipan World Resort, will have more speakers.

A session titled “Canine Source Tracking of Water Pollutants” will showcase how environmental organizations use scent-trained canines to identify and track human sewage pollution in storm water systems and surface waters that is caused by leaking sewer lines, illicit pipe connections, and failing septic systems.

This webinar session shall explain the feasibility in using canines compared to traditional methods. The canines provide instant results, distinguish human from animal source pollution, and can track the pollution sources immediately. The two speakers for this session are Karen Reynolds and Dr. Ngaio Richards.

Reynolds is president of Environmental Canine Services LLC, which is the first company in the world to specialize in using scent trained canines to detect and track human sewage pollution in storm water and surface waters caused by leaking sewer lines, faulty septic systems, and illicit pipe connections. In addition to managing the day-to-day operations of the company and conducting training for its canines and handlers, she has worked as a canine handler with her own ECS canines, Logan and Remi, and as the on-site project manager for projects across the country for the past eight years.

Reynolds has 25 years of experience as a professional dog trainer, scenting dog canine handler, and dog sports competitor.

Richards is the forensics & field specialist at Working Dogs for Conservation. In this capacity at WD4C she has handled conservation detection dogs in numerous ecological monitoring applications.

Canine source tracking can be applied to other environmental concerns, such as invasive species, aquatic species detection, pesticide detection, disease and contaminant detection, poaching and trafficking prevention, etc.

During the 29th PIEC, more than 300 delegates from the environmental protection profession including managers, field representatives, government officials, private companies and non-profit groups are expected to be in attendance. Attendees will come from across the Pacific, American Samoa, Guam, the Republic of Palau and the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands. There will also be representatives from the U.S. mainland and international locations.

Registration is ongoing at https://www.regonline.com/29PIECSAIPAN. The registration fee is $50 for the three days, or $20 for one day. Conference organizers are also accepting donations and exhibitions. Information about these opportunities is available at deq.gov.mp.

For general inquiries, contact the Bureau of Environmental & Coastal Quality at 664-8500, reinacamacho@becq.gov.mp or deq.gov.mp. (PR)