And for good reason. A new survey has found that nearly half of North Carolina dog owners don't scoop the poop -- even though Raleigh, Cary, Durham and other communities have laws requiring it.

"It's a big water-quality problem," said Chrystal Bartlett, stormwater awareness and outreach coordinator for the state Department of Environment and Natural Resource. "It's also an aesthetic problem."

Homeowners point to brown spots in their lawn. Kids track the smelly goop into the house. Lawn lovers hose down their mowers when they've run over a pile.

Raleigh issues one to two $50 citations a week for the offense.

Jennifer Burch, community manager at Wakefield Plantation and other neighborhoods, gets six to 12 dog-waste complaints a month from each of the nine communities she manages. Often the callers are furious.

"I just wish we could fix the problem indefinitely," said Burch, who puts reminders in newsletters and encourages people to talk to their neighbors.

But most people don't relish confronting neighbors about their unneighborly behavior.

Cary issues few of its $20 citations, despite getting daily complaints, because people won't give their names, said Shelly Davis, a Cary animal control officer.

It's no surprise we have poop problems. About 1.8 million dogs live in North Carolina and deposit 681 tons of the stuff a day, estimated Bartlett, the state stormwater awareness coordinator.

Those dogs don't clean up after themselves. And, the new survey says, neither do their owners.

In North Carolina, 47 percent of urban dog-walkers, 49 percent in the suburbs and 59 percent in rural areas rarely or never pick up after their dog, according to the 2005 survey conducted by the state and East Carolina University's Center for Survey Research. People aged 35 to 54 are least likely to pick up after their pets. Women were more likely than men to scoop it up.

At the dog park at Millbrook Exchange Park in North Raleigh, Kristi Rogers said she cleans up after her dog.

"I don't want to step in it when I take him out again, and I don't want other people to step in it," Rogers said.

Michel Weston, who often walks her dog on greenways, said she has approached people who don't clean up after their dog there. Weston said they said they didn't clean it up because it was off the trail. Weston pointed out it was still close to a stream.

In fact, dog poop and other animal and bird excrement is one of the leading polluters of lakes, rivers and other waterways, said Rachel Noble, a professor at UNC-Chapel Hill's Institute of Marine Sciences in Morehead City.

It's unlikely that somebody would get sick from swimming in a pond contaminated with dog poop, Noble said, though it's possible. At the same time, high levels of waste can muck up streams and ponds, she said.

"It's a particular problem in more heavily populated areas," she said.

And don't forget parasites, such as roundworm and hookworm, which are found in feces and can infect people through contact, said Julie Packard, immediate past president of the N.C. Veterinary Medical Association.

Larvae can stay in the environment for a long time, Packard said, even after the poop is gone.

Because of the risks to water and health, the state's environmental education office began in May to offer postcards urging people to pick up the poop. About 22,000 were ordered last month alone by veterinarians, along with neighborhoods, civic groups, towns and cities.

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