"Adopt-a-Drain" volunteers help maintain thousands of Twin Cities storm drains
MINNEAPOLIS – The rain and melting snow this week will need somewhere to go, and making it down the drain might require a little help.
A volunteer network of Minnesotans have "adopted" storm drains in the Twin Cities and committed to regularly clearing them of debris and trash.
"We can see this thing in our own neighborhood where we can actually make a big impact," said Michelle Spangler, who's adopted six drains in her northeast Minneapolis neighborhood. "You'll see all the plastic and sediment and all the gross stuff. All of that's going straight into the Mississippi River where we get our drinking water from, do our fishing."
Spangler brings along an ice scraper too this time of year.
"The snow starts melting and it rains in the springtime. It can cause flooding," she said. "At least here in northeast, it really floods our basements and stuff like that."
Adopt-a-Drain volunteers in Minneapolis tend to more than 6,000 storm drains. There are 40,000 total though that the city's responsible for.
"Basically we start clearing the low areas as soon as the snow hits, and then we basically do complaint-based [work]," said Sean Oberg, Minneapolis' sewer maintenance supervisor. "We get a lot of 311s in some of the known flooding areas, so it's a challenge."
If you'd like to adopt a drain and track the impact you're making along with the other volunteers, click here.
