Downtown Winona Pre-Mississippi River Rain Garden - Clean Water Partnership (CWP)

The goal of this protect is to protect the water quality of the Mississippi River at Winona, MN through the installation of a downtown Winona parking lot rain garden. This project will improve the Mississippi River water quality by removing an incorrectly sloped, 100% impervious parking lot surface then regrading and resurfacing the parking lot to direct runoff into a central rain garden planted with deep-rooted native vegetation that will filter pollutants such as oil, grease, dirt, debris, broken glass, road salt, sand and unseen nutrients before any runoff reaches Winona's stormwater system and the Mississippi River. The rain garden will also serve to slow the velocity of runoff and reduce the likelihood of flooding which is a regular concern in Winona.