When you think of an address, you likely think of a city, township, county, or country. But there is one address we don’t think about much yet we all have, our watershed address. A watershed is an area of land that drains to a common body of water. Our watershed address is the watershed we live in and where rain and snowmelt from our property eventually drains.

Carver County’s watersheds

The boundaries of a watershed are formed by how water flows across the land. The landscape, hills, and valleys determine which way water flows and makes up the size and shape of the watershed. Carver County has 10 major watersheds. Each named for the creek or river the water eventually flows into: Carver Creek, Bevens Creek, East Chaska Creek, West Chaska Creek, the Crow River, Minnehaha Creek, Buffalo Creek, Riley Creek, Purgatory Creek, and Bluff Creek. Some of these watersheds are entirely within Carver County, while others like Minnehaha Creek watershed spread into other counties. You can learn where your water drains at Where's Your Waterfront (carver.mn.us). 

Just like small streams drain into larger rivers, smaller watersheds drain into larger watersheds. The Carver Creek, Bevens Creek, and East and West Chaska Creek watersheds all drain into the Minnesota River. These creeks and their watersheds are part of the much larger Minnesota River watershed.

STEM game day and resource fair
Wednesday, August 28
4:30-6:30 pm | Fat Pants Brewing Co.

STEM on Tap is a workshop series that connects STEM teachers of grades
6-12 with practitioners, resources, and each other. Each workshop takes place at a brewery in the southwest metro and features a different STEM practitioner and topic. Workshops stand alone, attend one or attend them all!

Bring your department, professional learning community, and teacher besties to kick off the school year and learn about STEM on Tap, test drive STEM board games, and connect with local organizations that have resources for teachers.

The fall, agricultural, marine, and greenhouse plastic collection period is open September 2 - October 31.

Acceptable items

• Agriculture and grain bags
• Boat film
• Greenhouse film and covers
• Hockey rink liners
• Stretch wrap

Thanks to a partnership between Carver County Environmental Services and the UMN Extension - Carver & Scott County, local farmers and businesses have recycled over 118,000 pounds of agricultural, marine and greenhouse plastics since the program began.