"Stormwater pollution is the largest source of water quality degradation in the State of Florida." - Florida Best Management Practices
It's wet and lush in the neighborhood after almost 24 hours of thunderstorms. Quick as the raindrop falls, the pond levels rise! This rainy day is a good time to celebrate our retention ponds.
As I understand it, the ponds are all manmade (by developer Paul Neal) for an important purpose: to receive stormwater runoff. (What was scooped out became land to build Wildewood Springs.)
(We also celebrate the remarkable diversity of wildlife, especially bird species drawn to the ponds. To date, nearly 100 different birds have been photographed. Beth's list is HERE, mine is HERE.)
It matters how stormwater moves from streets into the ponds. Best practices for reducing pollutants and maintaining water quality recommend letting the water run over the land to the pond because the plants’ root systems, even grass, filter out pollutants.
Here is an example of that. Neighbors wondered how to alleviate flooding in the parking lot. After consults with the city, the Board experimented with creating stone stormwater paths to control flooding and support pond health.
HERE is a post about how we created this remarkable path including the costs. There are two stormwater paths in Pineneedle.
This photo is of a section of the path today, 4 years later. It looks like the path opened its eyes in hello.
