• Direct downspouts toward your lawn, trees, shrubs or other vegetation, rather than down your driveway. This slows the water and allows it to be absorbed into the soil. Avoid redirecting runoff towards adjacent properties or your home.
• Keep paved surfaces clean and maintain vehicles to prevent contaminants from washing into the street. Avoid applying fertilizers and herbicides to your lawn just before it rains.
• Roadways often serve as collection points for runoff, and any material that washes into the street is passed downstream. Rather than blowing grass clippings and leaves into the street, direct them back onto your lawn or bag them for composting.
• Adopt a Drain, then clean it regularly and report your efforts to help experts track the impact.

Winter safety is a top priority. But salt isn't always the best solution.

Did you know?

• More than 800 million pounds of deicing salt are used in the Twin Cities each year.
• Salt damages buildings, vehicles, pavement, landscaping and more.
• Oversalting permanently pollutes drinking water and harms aquatic life.
• Proper use of salt maintains safe conditions while reducing damage.

Seven Steps for Smart Salting

1. Keep a snow and ice toolkit on hand, including shovels, roof rake, broom, infrared thermometer and ice breaker.
2. Follow weather forecasts and stay aware of temperature, wind and other conditions that affect snow depth and ice formation.
3. Clear the snow from driveways, parking areas, walkways and porches before it can bond with surfaces to form ice.
4. Choose the right substance to reduce slips and falls. Road salt works when a surface is 15 degrees or warmer. If it's colder, use another deicer or apply grit or sand for traction.
5. Measure first to ensure you don't overuse salt. One pound of road salt is the right amount to melt 250 square feet of surface.
6. Scatter matters because crystals melt around their edges. To get the best melting, leave space between crystals. Later, go back to shovel up the loosened ice.
7. Sweep and store unmelted crystals or sand and grit to ensure they aren't carried away by stormwater runoff.

Pet waste left in the environment does not simply disappear. Rainfall and spring snowmelt wash dog poop off lawns and sidewalks directly into the nearest body of water. Waste left on the ice sinks right into lakes, creeks and wetlands. Once in our water, the bacteria and parasites found in pet waste pose a threat to the health of people and wildlife. For the love of all things aquatic ... please pick up after your dog.

Rainwater and snowmelt pick up pollutants as they flow over rooftops, driveways, walkways, parking lots and other hard surfaces. This stormwater runoff is a significant source of water pollution. 

If there's a spot in your yard where runoff tends to flow or pool, a rain garden could be a good solution. Rain gardens are depressions in the landscape planted with native vegetation that can help filter and absorb stormwater. Check out these resources to learn more:

• Rain Gardens and Shoreline Buffers workshop video
• Rain Garden Maintenance video

If you have a yard that generates green waste, you probably have the right ingredients and enough room to set up your own compost bin.

Composting is easy, cheap, cuts down your garbage by hundreds of pounds each year and creates an incredibly effective mixture to improve your soil.

Remember! 

• Don't place your compost area next to a wetland, pond, lake or creek. The nutrients that run off can promote growth of aquatic weeds and algae. 
• Don't add invasive plants, such as garlic mustard, to your home compost.

For great composting info, visit the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency's website.

In Minnetonka, residential water use triples in the summer, mostly due to outdoor irrigation. Overuse is expensive and reduces our community’s longer-term water supply.

Follow these tips to reduce your water use, help our environment and lower your water bill.

• Use native plants that are adapted to our local climate; they often need less water.
• Don’t over-irrigate. Most plants and trees (especially native species) only need one inch of water per week from a combination of rain and irrigation.
• Inspect your sprinkler system annually to ensure it’s working and programmed properly.
• Ensure sprinklers point toward planted areas, not hard surfaces.
• Identify over-watered areas and adjust your system accordingly.
• Install WaterSense-certified sprinkler heads and/or smart controllers and apply for a rebate from the city. WaterSense products are EPA-certified, high-performing products that use at least 20 percent less water.
• Add a rain or moisture sensor to override your smart controller when irrigation isn’t needed.
• Replace or repair old, damaged or inefficient sprinkler heads.

To promote and incentivize improved water efficiency, the City of Minnetonka offers a rebate program to residents and businesses that install more efficient irrigation equipment.