How to keep stormwater ponds healthy

By Stephanie Dyer

Eastgate, environmental program manager

If you live in a residential development that was built in the 1980s, chances are your development has a pond or series of ponds incorporated into the design. The technical term for these ponds is retention pond.

Neighborhoods across the valley have embraced their ponds and made them aesthetically pleasing, adding fountains, lights, rock borders, while others stock them with fish.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources states a retention pond is “designed to treat runoff for pollutants and control increases in stream discharge and bedload transport. ....Water quality ponds remove pollutants by settling, chemical interaction, and biological uptake by plants, algae, and bacteria.”

Furthermore, these ponds serve to retain stormwater for a short period of time and slowly release the water into a local stream.

Stormwater runoff is rainwater flowing from our roofs, yards, and streets. It picks up pollutants such as sediment/dirt, fertilizers, trash, grass clippings and animal/pet waste as it travels into the storm sewers and out into the ponds.

As pollutants settle, decompose or accumulate, harmful algal blooms can form and fish kills can take place. An excess of algal blooms and aquatic plants can lead to oxygen depletion at night (plant respiration) and lead to a fish kill.

Bacteria from pet waste and/or waterfowl adds bacteria to the water system.

Fertilizers applied in excess or under the wrong weather conditions become problematic.

Coupled with the fact that goose feces is rich in nitrogen and phosphorus, excess nutrients in a water system can cause nuisance growths of algae and aquatic plants.

Grass clippings and leaves when washed away into the storm drain system degrade overtime and deplete water of needed oxygen too.

Manage it, make it better.

Many times, these ponds are either maintained by the neighborhood Home Owners Association or the developer. Through the following actions, water quality can be maintained or improved for the health of your community:

Establish a “no mow” area around the pond. Providing a grassed buffer around the ponds will prevent pollutants from entering.

Install fountains in the ponds. Each time water is in contact with air, oxygen is reintroduced. Moving the water around will aid in preventing algal bloom formation.

Pick up your pet’s waste.

Sweep up excess fertilizer spilled onto the driveway, sidewalk or street. This extra step will save your money from literally being washed down the drain.

Want to save even more money? Have your soil tested to determine what your lawn needs before your first fertilizer application.

Consider creating a raingarden with native plants for your yard. It will filter out stormwater pollutants while adding beauty to your landscaping.

Whether the outlet is a pond or stream, stormwater is not treated. How we manage our yards influences local water quality.

For more information about water quality in residential stormwater ponds, download OSU’s Summer 2015 edition of Your Pond Update: “A Management Challenge: Water Quality in Residential-Neighborhood Ponds,” at http://go.osu.edu/pondwaterquality. To learn more residential tips visit the Alliance for Watershed Action and Resource Education’s blogsite at http://awarewatershedgroup.blogspot.com.