ABOVE: A storm drain along Woodland Avenue near Lake Sisseton in Fairmont. The plan for the city’s new Adopt-a-Drain program is to encourage residents to help keep storm drains—and local bodies of water—clear and clean.

FAIRMONT– The Fairmont City Council approved a new Adopt-a-Drain program at its meeting this week. The program, created by Hamline University, partners with cities to protect local waters.

Hannah Neusch, a water resources technician for the city of Fairmont, said that after hearing about the Adopt-a-Drain program, she dove into researching it to find out what the benefits are for the city and what the cost would be.

“Our street department is really great at what they do but they can’t be everywhere all the time. The Adopt-a-Drain program really allows citizens to mobilize themselves and help keep our waters as clean as we can,” Neusch said.

As the city is an MS4 city, there are several requirements, some of which are public participation and education.

Neusch said the idea is that if someone is outside doing some work, they can take five minutes to go down to whatever storm drain is nearest to them and remove anything, like sticks, leaves and trash, that’s sitting in or around the storm drain.

“They can get a garbage bag or rake and clean it up,” Neusch said.

After clearing it out, those who have adopted a drain and signed up on the website can go and report that they’ve cleaned it up and how much they collected.

At the end of the year, the city will receive a report that says how many pounds of phosphorous or nitrogen or trash was removed from the waterways over the course of the year.

Neusch explained that all of the water that goes trough the gutters and into the storm drains is virtually untreated and goes straight into lakes, streams and wetlands.

“Anything that might be carried along the way goes there, too. We’re talking cigarette butts, Mountain Dew bottles, grass and leaves,” Neusch said.

While it’s widely known that trash of any kind is not good for lakes, Neusch said that it’s actually grass and leaves that causes much of the phosphorous and nitrogen blooms, which can then lead to fish kills and degraded water conditions.

“That’s extremely important in our community because that’s our drinking water,” Neusch said.

Keeping storm drains — and the lakes– clean and clear are also important in the long run because then they need to be treated less.

The initial cost of the program will be $2,952 and includes storm drain GIS integration, basic website customization and graphic design to integrate the city into the program. The cost moving forward depends on how much citizen involvement there is.

The Fairmont Lakes Foundation has also partnered with the city on this project by agreeing to contribute $500 per year for the program.

For residents who want to adopt a drain, there is no cost. There are around 2,000 storm drains within the city of Fairmont so there are plenty to choose from. Participants will then receive a welcome packet and a sign to put in their yard that says they’re protecting the watershed that they live in.

“You are not obligated to clean in any specific time frame. If it’s nice out and you remember to clean it out, that’s great. If you want to go out every week, that’s fantastic. We encourage any sort of participation in this program. Whatever we can remove from going into our water bodies is welcome,” Neusch said.

Now with council’s approval, the contract needs to be officially signed and Neusch estimates it could be launched in the coming weeks.

“We’re really excited to get this program off the ground and to see community involvement,” Neusch said.

More information on the program will be available in the coming weeks and will be available on the city’s website and social media pages.