Pet Waste Station Project
Several creeks in our watershed district are not meeting Clean Water Act standards for E. coli bacteria and phosphorus. One way to prevent this pollution is to reduce it at its source, and one source is dog waste. To encourage the pickup of dog waste in targeted areas, we have installed and service 33 pet waste stations along trails adjacent to waterways that are not meeting standards. Ten of these stations will be on line starting November 1, 2024. They are located in the Springbrook Creek drainage area (subwatershed).
For detailed information on Clean Water Act requirements, go to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency webpage TMDL projects.
Take our Survey!
Attention Trail Users! We appreciate your feedback on the effectiveness of our Pet Waste Stations in reducing the amount of dog waste (poo) you see along trails where we’ve installed the stations. Feedback helps us determine project improvements, project importance for future funding opportunities, and user need for these stations.
How It Works
We support our city partners by maintaining the pet waste stations via a weekly contracted service, normally on Fridays. Since Fall of 2020, over 55,000 pounds of waste have been collected, which calculates to about 550lbs total phosphorus and 555 billion E. coli organisms that have been kept out of our waters!
Phase 1: Starting in November 2020, 13 pet waste stations were installed and serviced along paved trails in the Pleasure Creek ponds area of Blaine, and around Sunrise Lake in The Lakes of Radisson Homeowner Association which is in the Sand Creek drainage area (subwatershed), meaning the water flows downstream via Ditch 41, becoming Sand Creek.
Phase 2: The success of the first project was leveraged to obtain US EPA 319 grant funds towards a similar project in 2022-2025 in the cities of Coon Rapids and Blaine for the Sand Creek subwatershed:
- In Coon Rapids 7 pet waste stations were installed along the Sand Creek Trail from Xeon Blvd to Foley Blvd.
- In Blaine 3 more stations were installed along the trail from Little League Park south to Fillmore & Quincy Parks along Ditch 39, a tributary to Sand Creek.
Phase 3: A public input survey is implemented in 2024 to help assess efficacy of the program and gain insight into public perception by trail users.
Phase 4: Fall 2024 – Pet Waste Stations get installed in the Springbrook Creek subwatershed to help address its water quality standards. These stations will be serviced weekly, starting November 1, 2024.
- In Blaine 5 new pet waste stations are installed in Sunnyside, Aurelia, and Laddie Lake parks and adjacent trails.
- Another five stations are installed in Spring Lake Park (Sanburnol Park), Coon Rapids (MRT at Mississippi Blvd), and Fridley (MRT at Hugo, Riverview Heights Park and Craig Way Park).
Pet Waste Stations help the Coon Creek Watershed District and the cities of Coon Rapids, Blaine, Spring Lake Park, and Fridley meet Clean Water Act requirements to reduce water pollution in Sand, Pleasure and Springbrook Creeks!
The Future
Survey responses will be analyzed to help guide the next steps of this project. Pet Waste Stations may be adopted out to neighboring HOAs or businesses who could have promotional info on their adopted station in exchange for covering cost of maintenance. Want to adopt a station? Contact Dawn Doering, Information Coordinator at 763.258.7136 (direct) or ddoering@cooncreekwd.org