Until about the 1950s, it was common for people living in rural and not-so-rural areas to deposit their trash and no-longer-usable household appliances in wooded areas near to where they resided. Large tracts near some towns evolved into unrestricted community dumps, and no one questioned the dumping.

During the 1960s, an awareness took hold about the environmental damage that such uncontrolled dumping practices were causing. Restrictions on where garbage and appliances could be taken began to be imposed by municipalities. The positive evolution continued, leading to the strict landfill and dumping restrictions of today.

With that evolution having occurred, it was troubling to read in Monday's edition of the Butler Eagle that the nonprofit organization PA Cleanways has identified 217 illegal dump sites in the county.

While many residents believe that the county's rural character should be maintained, that shouldn't mean trashing the place.

Apparently that realization hasn't registered with more than a few people who are too cheap or inconvenienced to pay for proper collection and disposal service.

Municipal officials' ignoring or failing to look for instances of illegal dumping must end. Illegal dumpers must be identified by whatever means possible, including collection of evidence such as discarded mail with names and addresses still intact.

Pennsylvania has an anti-littering law in effect; the full weight of that law must be enforced.

Some statistics contained in the PA Cleanways report are worth repeating and reflecting on, if only because of how badly they damage the image of what supposedly is a progressive county. Such as:

The dump sites scattered throughout the county contain more than 316 tons of trash, and 35 of the county's 57 municipalities are home to the illegal-dumping activities.

Then there's the PA Cleanways finding that of the surveyed illegal-dumping sites, 72 percent are near some body of water while 16 percent had waste materials actually in the water.

The bottom line is that the situation demands action, either by corrective measures by the municipalities themselves or by a cooperative effort with community groups and other organizations.

That the state helps fund some cleanup efforts through Growing Greener grants should be regarded as a possibility by some locales.

Could such work be a means for some non-violent, minimum-security prisoners to earn credits toward an earlier release?

The PA Cleanways survey no doubt has proven to be an eye-opening experience for Clinton and Jackson townships, which top the county in terms of number of illegal-dumping sites, with 16 each. Other double-digit municipalities are Worth and Forward townships, with 12 sites each; Buffalo Township, 11; and Jefferson and Marion townships, 10 each.

What's especially troubling is that five of the seven double-digit townships are in the county's southern sector, which is witnessing an expansion of growth spilling over from Allegheny County.

It's no longer the 1950s; five decades have elapsed since the days when unrestricted dumping in many places in Pennsylvania was the rule rather than the exception.

The message must be delivered that such dumping will no longer be tolerated and that those who test that no-tolerance policy will have a steep financial consequence to pay.

If Butler County is going to maintain its rural character, that character must be picturesque and beautiful. Illegal dumps must go.