We all own waterfront property! Even if you aren't living on a lake you affect the health of nearby lakes, wetlands, and streams.

In most urban and suburban areas, your street connects to downstream lakes, wetlands and streams through the storm sewer system. Water runs off your street and yard into storm sewers, collecting pollutants along the way, and eventually makes it into our lakes and streams.

How can you help to protect and improve clean water?

There are many ways you can protect and improve water quality. Check out the articles below on raingardens, rainwater harvesting, green roofs, and more.

Rainbarrels are an easy way to collect and use rainwater for your yard and landscape plants. They range in size from 50 gallons to 130 gallons. In addition, a rainbarrel can be paired with a raingarden for overflow.

There are resources to build your own rainbarrel, or you can buy a pre-made one. An easy pour spout allows you to connect a hose or fill a watering can. It is important to ensure that the water is closed off to bugs and debris.

Green roofs are flat roofs planted with tolerant plant species that absorb, filter and store rain and snowmelt. While typically found on office or commercial buildings, green roofs can be installed on residential homes and garages. Because they provide an added layer of insulation, they offer the additional benefit of decreasing energy bills during the winters and summers.

Green roofs, such as the one atop the Phillips Eco-Enterprise Center in Minneapolis, also are great places for employees to take a break and enjoy nature in an urban setting.

A raingarden is a bowl-shaped garden filled with plants to allow water to soak into the ground. They manage polluted runoff from impervious surfaces such as roofs, sidewalks and parking lots. A raingarden:

• Filters water to remove sediment and pollutants
• Reduces volume of water going into the stormwater system
• Allows water to soak into the ground
• Creates habitat, especially when native or pollinator plants are selected

They are built with a shallow depression that both collects and holds rainwater after a storm. This helps in filtering the water and reducing volume in the stormwater systems.

Native plants are plants that have been in this region for hundreds of years and have evolved to the local climate and ecological pressures. They naturally reduce polluted runoff.

Among their benefits, native plants are:

• well-adapted to local environmental conditions
• maintain or improve soil fertility
• reduce erosion
• require less fertilizer and pesticides

Native plants provide food and shelter for many of Minnesota’s insects, birds and animals. Incorporating native plants into our neighborhoods provide shelter for wildlife that has lost its home. Insects, birds and animals in Minnesota have adapted with native plants, and often prefer them over non-native plants.

Native plants come in all shapes and sizes. You may already be familiar with many of them. Black-eyed Susan, columbine, and bee balm are all native to Minnesota. Because they are native and take less to maintain, they will typically save you time and money.

A carpet of green grass is a satisfying feat, but can require the use of fertilizers, watering and pesticides.

How you take care of your lawn is important for clean waters. When fertilizer is spilled or washed into the street and down storm sewers it can harm our lakes, wetlands and streams. The same is true for lawn clippings, fallen leaves and pesticides. When these materials wash into our waterways, they bring with them excess nutrients and pollutants that can cause algae to bloom or damage water in other ways.

Vegetated swales (also known as grass swales) are shallow areas built to store, filter, and transport small amounts of water before it gets to storm sewer system.

Usually vegetated with grasses, they can either have tall native grasses or turf. This makes them easy to maintain.

Among their benefits, swales:

• Divert water away from an area it will pick up pollution
• Slow water flow to prevent erosion
• Filter water to remove sediment and pollutants
• Allows small amounts of water to soak into the ground
• Create habitat (only when wild grasses are used)

Porous (or pervious/permeable) pavement are surfaces that allow water to filter and flow through them, greatly decreasing problems associated with runoff.  It is becoming more popular in construction practices.

To accomplish this, asphalt and concrete are specially engineered to have extra spaces (pores) that allow water to trickle straight down at the point of contact and enter a storage area (a sand and gravel sub-base) beneath the surface. Pavers (bricks) are placed in such a manner that water runs off into the crevices and filters into a storage area.

Porous pavement can be used almost anywhere, from large parking lots to residential streets to driveways. They are designed to hold a large amount of water and to filter quickly.

Pathogens are disease-causing organisms including bacteria, viruses or protozoa that can cause illness.

Pathogen indicators (microbes that indicate the possible presence of pathogens) are present in the Minnehaha Creek at all times, but reach higher levels after a storm event. The creek is an urban stream that receives direct storm sewer runoff from streets, which may contain pathogens. That is why the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District advises people to avoid direct body contact with the Minnehaha Creek for a period of 3 days or 72 hours, after a rainfall ends. Body contact can include water in the mouth, eyes, ears or skin. The most common way to get sick is by getting water in the mouth during swimming, but it may be possible to get sick via exposure from canoeing, fishing or wading.