Carver Creek is located in the western metropolitan area. It has two headwater branches, one in Waconia Township and one in Camden Township. The creek runs through lakes (including Lake Waconia), wetlands and the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge, providing habitat for wildlife and opportunity for recreational activities, before discharging into the Minnesota River.The main NPS (Nonpoint Source) monitoring station in the Carver Creek Watershed is Carver Creek at Co Rd 40, River Mile 1.7. The station was originally located at Carver Creek near Carver Bluff Pkwy, River Mile1. However that location was often affected by backflow from the Minnesota River, so the station was moved to its current location at River Mile 1.7 in 1993. The monitoring station measures the water quality of Carver Creek before it enters into the Minnesota River. Samples are collected at regular intervals for baseflow and also during storm events. This station also has automatic monitoring equipment which takes measurements every 15 minutes. This continuous data can be found under the "Time Series" dropdown in the "Data Collected" section located farther down on this webpage.