Stormwater Management

The City of Eden Prairie encourages residents to help the City and local watershed districts manage stormwater and protect our waterways.

Over time, more impervious surfaces, such as roads, rooftops and parking lots, have been built around the City. These surfaces do not allow rain to absorb into the ground, resulting in larger amounts of water flowing more quickly to a downstream creek, wetland, pond or lake than it would in a natural prairie or wooded landscape.

Large rainstorms can lead to flooding and erosion in downstream channels. Stormwater is also a leading transporter of pollutants from our streets. Homeowners can help protect valuable property and enhance water quality at the same time by using the methods listed below.

Best Management Practices	Downstream Benefits	Water Quality Benefits	Groundwater Benefits
Rain gardens or vegetated ditches	Reduces amount and speed of runoff	Filters runoff, allows plants to consume excess fertilizers	Recharges groundwater if infiltrated
Rain Barrels	Reduces amount of runoff	Reuse of stormwater	Conserves water
Redirecting downspouts from impervious surfaces to vegetated areas	Allows infiltration, reduces speed of runoff	Allows filtering of runoff to remove pollutants	Cleans surface water before it infiltrates to groundwater
Pervious pavements or pavers in place of asphalt or concrete	Allows infiltration, reduces speed of runoff	Allows filtering of runoff to remove pollutants	Cleans surface water before it infiltrates to groundwater

If watershed district rules require you to design and implement a Stormwater Best Management Practice (BMP) on your property, contact your watershed district for more information regarding which BMPs meet that requirement. Rebate and cost-sharing programs may be available through the City or watershed district. To protect drinking water, there may be restrictions on the types of BMPs that can be used to recharge groundwater.

Eden Prairie Watershed Districts

Nine Mile Creek
Riley-Purgatory-Bluff Creek
Lower Minnesota River

Contact the City's water resources coordinator with questions and before designing a rain garden or other infiltrating BMP.

Learn about water quality management rebates.