Five easy ways to improve water quality
- Keep paved surfaces clean
- Sweep grass clippings and rake leaves from the street and storm drain. Clean up spilled fertilizer, oil, and other chemicals and dispose of properly.
- Turn your downspout onto your lawn
- Runoff directed down your driveway can pick up oil, yard waste, and other debris. Be a good neighbor and be careful not to redirect the water towards your neighbor’s property or a highly erodible area.
- Reduce fertilizer use
- Have your soil tested before applying fertilizer to your lawn. Excess fertilizer can runoff or leach from the soil and impacts our lakes, creeks, and wetlands. Using a mulching mower can be roughly equivalent to one free fertilizer application per year. You can learn more by reading this factsheet about phosphorus law in Minnesota and water quality protection.
- Wash vehicles on the lawn
- Many soaps and detergents can contain phosphorus or other nutrients which may benefit your lawn but run off readily from paved surfaces where they can negatively impact our water resources.
- Capture and infiltrate your runoff
- Install a rain garden or rain barrel. Reduce unnecessary impervious surfaces or replace failing surfaces with pervious pavers to help increase the amount of runoff absorbed into the ground.
One easy way to protect water quality—
be sure storm drains are clear of debris.
