The Grate Drain Race Competition Begins!

The 2026 Grate Drain Race!

An Adopt-a-Drain Challenge

Friendly Competition. Cleaner Water. Less Flooding Risk.

Starting August 1st through November 30th, 2026 the Nine Mile Creek Watershed District and the neighboring watershed, Riley Purgatory Bluff Creek Watershed District are competing to see which community can adopt and clean the most storm drains and make the biggest impact.

Whether you’re adopting your first drain or have already adopted several, every cleaning helps protect our lakes, streams, wetlands, and rivers by keeping leaves, grass clippings, litter, and other debris out of the storm sewer system. A clean drain also helps prevent local streets from flooding.

We’re teaming up with Adopt-a-Drain, a volunteer program where community members can adopt a storm drain and help protect local lakes and streams by cleaning it twice each month. We’ll track adoptions and cleanups through the Adopt-a-Drain website: https://mn.adopt-a-drain.org/

Learn more information about this competition here:

https://www.ninemilecreek.org/get-involved/learn/grate-drain-race/