POTUS: 3 videos to celebrate President Obama's 54th birthday

What better way to commemorate President Barack Obama's 54th birthday today than with his three public service announcements that advocate clean water. Share accordingly.

VIDEO: 3 water messages you won't hear from @BarackObama at @TheCityClub but should.

It's another amazing Cleveland day as President Barack Obama will be speaking at the City Club later this afternoon.

But it's unlikely he'll talk about his dog Bo's poop.

No worries! Since he's in Cleveland, we asked him* for his official polices on three key platforms. Here's what he had to say.

Obama says #DontFlushWipes



Obama says #DogsCantFlush



Obama says #PitchThosePills



Thanks to our own Wastewater Plant Operator Ryan Melton for his talents. Nice suit, too.

#SewerBowl: Who did our K9 Storm pick to win this year's Super Bowl?

Our K9 Storm makes his Super Bowl XLIX prediction: Pats or Seahawks? It's our latest #SewerBowl promotion. Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook all weekend long leading up to and during the big game for the latest water and sewer stats about the Super Bowl.

RELATED STORIES:

• EVENTS: Celebrate clean water all year long with events, education, contests and more #CleanWater2015
• HISTORY: Thank you, Seth, for inventing perforated toilet paper
• INFOGRAPHIC: Go Cleveland! Football, flushes, and the facts they have in common
• FLUSH OR FICTION? Our top 5 toilet bowl myths

WEIRD: Calif. mayor resigns after caught on video flinging dog poop on neighbor's lawn

Mud-slinging is common in politics, but this slinging cost a mayor his job.

A California mayor recently resigned after being caught on camera flinging a bad of his dog's feces on his neighbor's lawn.

According to Newschannel 5 and Newsy:

The Los Angeles Times reports about 100 people attended an hourslong city council meeting June 11 where several residents called for [Mayor Dennis] Kneier's resignation in what they creatively dubbed the "poopgate" incident.

While we applaud the former mayor's initiative picking up after his pup, heading for the trash rather than the grass would have prevented both pollution and this unfortunate scandal.

Perhaps most unfortunate is the loss of so many creative campaign commercials Kneier's challengers could have come up with next election season.

#DogsCantFlush: Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus, but no, Santa Cruz, there is no poop fairy.

We're partial to our #DogsCantFlush campaign encouraging dog owners to pick up poop, but we tip our hat to the city of Santa Cruz for the creativity behind theirs.

Photo by mobileranger. Read the full post at Santa Cruz Waves.

Thanks to Adam for sharing the link.

PUP: Dogs tend to poop in alignment with Earth's magnetic field, study finds

If you thought your dog was picky when it came to him finding the perfect spot for his business, a new study suggests he might have an excuse.

Researchers in Prague have concluded dogs have a tendency to poop along a north-south axis that lines up with the Earth's magnetic field.

Lest you think this is just some baseless claim, this team did their homework, examining 70 dogs, 37 breeds, 5,582 urinations, and almost 2,000 defecations over a two-year period.

Scientists said the research opens new doors into understanding "organisms' use of magnetic fields for direction, as well as magnetic fields produced by living organisms."

It's interesting to us because we want dog-owners to be responsible and pick up after their pets. It's polite and protects water quality. Maybe this new report will help homeowners know where to place the signs on their tree lawns.

NEWS: August 26 is our favorite day. Evah.

Photo by flickr user [xinita]

We are hereby marking our calendars for every August 26 for years to come.

Your NEORSD bloggers have learned that today, August 26, is National Dog Day, raising awareness of pet adoption and rescue efforts. At the same time, we were amazed to learn August 26 is also National Toilet Paper Day.

What a glorious combination for us, and here's why.

Our business is wastewater treatment, so obviously drawing attention to the sanitary staple that is toilet paper is of great interest to us. Secondarily, as we raise awareness of water quality and public health, pet waste has become a great carrier of our clean-water message, most notably through our Pick Up Poop! (PUP) campaign.

The fact that both topics are of national significance on the same day comes as a welcome opportunity for dialogue.

Huzzah for August 26.

PUP: #DogsCantFlush, but they need more help than that.

Meet Hank. He's a #blueheeler... Same color as me! Want to help @clevelandapl help PUPs? 216.566.PETS. #DogsCantFlush twitter.com/wallywaterdrop…
— Spokesdrop, NEORSD (@wallywaterdrop) May 10, 2013

A group of Sewer District volunteers are taking calls at Q104's and Cleveland APL's Pledge For Pets Radiothon today, an event we've supported for several years in connection with our Pick Up Poop! (PUP) campaign.

But what's the partnership all about?

#DogsCantFlush sweepstakes: PUP Stuff prize pack up for grabs, enter by 5/13

Let your friends know that picking up doo is the right thing to do.

We're supporting the Q104/Cleveland Animal Protective League Pledge For Pets Radiothon this Friday, and we want to share the love of our Pick Up Poop! (PUP) campaign with you.

Just subscribe to our email list below and you'll be entered to win a PUP Stuff Prize Pack, including some of our most popular PUP items, along with a limited-edition T-shirt shown here, and two keychain pet-waste bag dispensers. PLEASE NOTE: THIS SWEEPSTAKES HAS CONCLUDED :( BUT YOU CAN STILL JOIN OUR MAIL LIST :)

Our PUP program promotes water quality and common courtesy. You can request some of our PUP materials on our official dogscantflush.org page.

The contest has ended, but you can still join the mail list!

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PUP: Grab a mitt, a mutt, and the message

The Sewer District sponsoring a bring-your-dog-to-the-ballpark night? Yes, you read that correctly.

This is the third year the Sewer District has supported the Cleveland Indians' Puppypalooza event, and the latest is August 29 against the Oakland Athletics. But why?

PUP: Picking up waste, dropping some knowledge

Photo by J. Quinn

Summer days and dog walking go hand in hand. On your walks, have you seen any of our PUP signs? The requests for them continue coming in, but so do the questions about the real motivators behind this successful campaign.

Our Pick Up Poop! (PUP) program comes down to two things: Water quality, and common courtesy.

The bac facts: Bacteria Tallahassee (Florida)'s "Think About Personal Pollution (TAPP)" runs a similar pet campaign, and they offer a helpful comparison between the amounts of bacteria in various animal wastes.

TAPP goes on to explain:

Dogs present a special problem. Built to eat almost anything, dogs have as especially large number of intestinal bacteria to digest that wide variety of food, about 23 million bacteria per gram of waste.

Due to dogs' high-protein diets, their waste is highly acidic. It is not a fertilizer and can contain 10 times as much fecal coliform bacteria as cow manure, and also a whole lot of nasty stuff like e. coli, salmonella, and giardia.

2010: From stormwater to sewage and everything in between

The last 12 months have been filled with clean-water progress and projects that affect every one of our customers and one million Northeast Ohio residents. Here are just a few of our 2010 accomplishments:

PUP gets national props as "inventive" educational program

Yesterday, the National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA) awarded the Sewer District's Pick Up Poop! (PUP) campaign with its 2010 Public Information & Education Award for its "inventive efforts to educate the public on the effects of waste water treatment and pollution control on the environment." The award will be presented at the NACWA Winter Conference in February.