A watershed moment for Rice Creek

With more than 100 lakes, 185 miles of streams and ditches, and 27,500 acres of wetlands, the Rice Creek Watershed District (RCWD) is a wet one.

Keeping all that water clean is the job of Kyle Axtell and eight other people at the RCWD.

Recently, the Minnesota Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts honored Axtell and his colleagues with an "outstanding conservationist" award.

"We were excited by the recognition," says Axtell, a water resource specialist who accepted the honor on behalf of the organization.

It's no simple task to improve the water quality of such a large and diverse area -- 186 square miles that includes farmland and urban areas in four counties and encompasses parts of 28 cities and townships.

"We've got a lot of different types of landscapes to work in," Axtell says. The organization is also in charge of the public drainage system in the watershed, and part of its mission is to prevent flooding.

One reason the organization is so successful, Axtell says, is that it's been able to cultivate collaboration among communities in the district. "No individual government unit has the funding they need to take care of everything, but if we work together and apply for some grants, we can find the money to put projects together. It takes the whole community working together."

In a typical urban environment, runoff from parking lots, sidewalks, roofs and other surfaces collects dirt, oil and pollution. Every time it rains these contaminants get flushed into the storm sewers and dumped into the nearest body of water.

The RCWD considered a handful of options for reducing such pollution, and found that the most cost-effective would be to build "rain gardens" to collect runoff during storms.

"We want to intercept as much of that water as possible and let it soak into the ground," Axtell explained. "That removes the direct runoff and takes out a whole slew of pollutants, most notably phosphorous, which drives a lot of algae growth and is a huge problem in urban lakes."

An added bonus: Rain gardens create a healthy habitat that helps biodegrade heavier pollutants like oil and grease and generally contributes to the health of the urban environment.

The RCWD identified areas of the city where the impact of a rain garden would be highest, and then went door-to-door to recruit individual homeowners to take responsibility for a rain garden on their boulevard.

Such projects wouldn't be possible without collaboration among the government bodies and landowners in the district, Axtell says.

The RCWD's annual operating budget is $3.5 million to $4 million, most of it raised from property taxes and supplemented by project grants.