What you do on and near your lot—whether you are washing the car, you are maintaining the lawn, your car is leaking oil, or you are littering pet waste—is not just affecting your property.

Everyone in Eagan lives in a lake or wetland watershed. Homeowner activities add up and contribute to the quality of the city’s surface water resources. Everyone effectively has shoreline property because lawns and driveways drain to streets that are connected to lakes and wetlands by the stormwater drainage system.

Your Driveway is in a Watershed.

Car wash soap and oily grit flow from driveways to curbs and then into street drains and the stormwater system. This causes pollution, which is unhealthy for fish and other aquatic animals. To avoid being this kind of polluter, wash your car on grass or gravel away from the street. Better yet, go to a car wash where the water is treated and recycled.

Your Lawn is in a Watershed.

You fertilize, mow, and rake leaves to the driveway or street. Then it rains, washing fertilizer, grass clippings, and leaves to stormwater drainage system. Runoff containing phosphorus from fertilizer, grass, and leaves stimulates excess algae and contributes to low dissolved oxygen in Eagan lakes. To protect water quality, MN Stats. Ch. 18C prohibits using lawn fertilizer containing phosphorus, with few exceptions, and prohibits spilling fertilizers on impervious surfaces. Eagan City Code Sec. 7.05 prohibits putting grass, leaves, and other debris onto streets. Analyses of Eagan lawns indicate most do not need supplemental phosphorus to support turf grass. The City has soil-sample kits on-loan, by request to determine if your yard has adequate phosphorus.

The Street is in a Watershed.

Leaking oil drips from cars onto driveways, parking lots, and streets. Stormwater washes these surfaces and runoff enters street drains connected to Eagan lakes and wetlands. Imagine the number of cars and the amount of oil migrating from leaky gaskets into our surface waters. Fix oil leaks, for water quality sake!

Pet Waste is Litter in a Watershed.

When our pets leave their waste on lawns or near street curbs, rain can wash it into street drains. This pollutes our surface waters. What to do? Dispose of pet waste properly (preferably in the toilet) where it will be treated as it should!

Photos courtesy of Washington State Department of Ecology, Water Quality Consortium

For other homeowner tips, check out the online brochure Green Up Your Lawn Not Your Lakes and Rivers. The brochure is in PDF format and requires Adobe® Acrobat Reader.

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