Lakeville, MN Landscaping Rules: Rainwater Harvesting (2026)

Lakeville does not impose a city ordinance restricting residential rainwater harvesting, and Minnesota law does not limit homeowners from collecting rainwater in barrels or cisterns. Rather than regulating the practice, Lakeville and Dakota County actively encourage it through incentive programs. The City's Landscaping for Clean Water (LCW) program offers Lakeville residents a $250 rebate (first-come, first-serve, limit one per address) for completing an LCW workshop and installing a qualifying project such as a raingarden, native garden, or shoreline restoration; an additional $250 incentive grant is available from the Dakota County Soil and Water Conservation District. The Citizen Conservation Stewardship Program may provide up to $5,000 of cost-share funding, reimbursing up to 85% of actual project cost for non-agricultural water-quality projects. Discounted rain barrels are offered to Dakota County residents through the Recycling Association of Minnesota's annual sale. Note that larger rainwater systems plumbed into a structure, or projects in floodplains, wetlands, or shoreland, could trigger building, plumbing, or stormwater (City Code 7-16, stormwater and urban runoff control) review; a simple downspout rain barrel does not. Because no specific city rainwater-harvesting ordinance exists, residents should follow standard property and stormwater rules and consult the City for any plumbed system.