Hedberg and the Association of Medicine Lake Area Citizens (AMLAC) will team up to educate area residents about water quality and quantity problems resulting from stormwater runoff and what they can do to prevent pollutants and excess nutrients from entering the lake through storm drains. We will do this in cooperation with the City of Plymouth and Bassett Creek Watershed Commission and reinforce their outreach efforts. Hedberg and AMLAC will hold neighborhood meetings to introduce landscape practices and projects residents can do to help rain soak in rather than run off their properties. Examples include planting trees, installing raingardens, capturing and re-using rainwater from roofs with systems like rain barrels and larger underground reservoirs, replacing asphalt and poured concrete surfaces with permeable pavers, keeping storm drains free of debris and practicing more responsible lawn care. Funding would be used to publicize the educational seminars, create a website to keep the community informed of practices, projects and community events related to the Blue Commuity Makeover for Medicine Lake, and to help offset materials and installation costs for residential stormwater projects with $200 to $2,500 cost share grants, depending on the project. This model was used successfully in 2010 in the Diamond Lake area of South Minneapolis.

Our community is defined as residents and industry based in the Bassett Creek Watershed surrounding Medicine Lake, as well as people who use the lake but don't live in the watershed. Our goal is to create a private-public-commercial partnership to help the lake.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPA) identified Medicine Lake as an impaired water body because it contains excess phosphorus, a nutrient that contributes to algae overgrowth and disruption of swimming, fishing and other forms of recreation. The MPCA found that about half of phosphorus pollution in Medicine Lake comes from stormwater runoff. Phosphorus levels in stormwater rise when leaves, grass clippings and fertilizers are allowed to wash into storm sewers. Rain water flowing off paved surfaces like driveways, parking lots and roads carried phosphorus-containing organic material into the lake. Helping residents understand the things they can do on their own properties to reduce stormwater runoff - ranging from easy no-cost behavior changes to higher cost landscape renovations - will reduce the amount of organic material for the algae to fee on and help keep the water cleaner for wildlife and recreation, now and for future generations.