Tips and tales about keeping water clean
It shouldn’t be a secret, but you might be surprised to learn that 49% of lakes in Washington County have improving water quality. Trout are surviving and may be reproducing in Brown’s Creek again. Woodbury has cut its annual groundwater use by nearly 35 million gallons in only one year, and Bone Lake in Scandia…
Read More
Much has changed since the Valley Branch Watershed District was established in 1968. At the time, development had just begun to boom in the eastern suburbs of St. Paul, with new neighborhoods springing up in Oakdale, Maplewood, and the Tri-Lakes area of Lake Elmo. Several years of rainy weather resulted in high lake levels and…
Read More
Sometimes you think you have a really good idea, like planting vegetable gardens at your office. Full of enthusiasm, you put your family to work and spend an entire day tearing out sod, piecing together scrap lumber, and hauling in dirt. It is hard work but you feel proud. Then it is the next year,…
Read More
It’s 6:30pm on a Tuesday night and a small group is gathered inside the Scandia Pizzeria to hear neighbor Tom Furey talk about water quality in Bone Lake. Ten years ago, Bone Lake was considered to be one of the worst lakes in Washington County. The water was murky, phosphorus and algae levels were high,…
Read More
“What percentage of walleyes caught in Minnesota are born wild?” asks DNR Fisheries Chief Don Pereira, as he looks around a room filled with lake association members from Chisago and Washington Counties. A few folks call out numbers – 10%? Maybe 20%? “People talk a lot about fish stocking,” Pereira continues, “but 85% of the…
Read More
Tiny Perro Creek begins in Valley View Park, a hidden gem tucked between Phil and Tara’s Hideaway, the two Minnesota Correctional Facilities, and the Bayport Fire Department. From Perro Pond, the stream runs downhill 1.8 miles through the neighborhoods of Bayport until it eventually reaches the St. Croix River just north of Bayport Marina. Though…
Read More
Rain carries everything that lands on our streets — trash, leaves, grass clippings, automotive fluids, and even dog poop — into lakes, streams and wetlands via storm drains and pipes that run underground. Even so, many people think their actions don’t matter if they don’t live near the water.
Read More
On Saturday, April 28 from 10am-1pm, Washington County will hold a Household Prescription Drug “Take Back” Event at the Mahtomedi District Education Center (1520 Mahtomedi Ave.). The county also has four year-round drop boxes that are open Monday – Friday, 8am-4:30 at the Forest Lake, Cottage Grove, Stillwater and Woodbury Service Centers.
Read More
The Stillwater Adopt-a-Raingarden program will launch this spring with a city-wide Raingarden Clean-up event on Saturday, May 5, 10am-noon. During a follow-up event on Thursday, June 7, 6:30-8pm, teams will pull weeds as well.
Read More
In 2016, Moore found that he no longer had to spend time or money to repair erosion in his fields and he observed fewer problems with weed pressure and white mold in soybeans.
Read More
East Metro Water 