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These water retention/detention ponds are getting ridiculous

Eddie_23

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Dec 10, 2019
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I think even a residential property needs to have it if their isn't enough permeable land. Do they even do anything besides collect misquitos? I was at a storage facility that would flood out if it rained for too long, luckily it never did until 2 years after I left. Luckily for me it always stopped raining before it go into my unit, but they had 2ft of water a couple years after I left.
 
Not sure if there is a question in there somewhere.... But locally (SE Washington State), where we have stormwater ponds, they are not intended to have standing water. The pond will fill during a rain event, but will drain in the next day or two.
 
The question is do they work? Imo they're quite an eye sore to have some big hole in the ground that has to be mowed regularly to remain functional.

One type does retain water and the other doesn't I believe a retention pond retains a foot or two of water, while a detention pond will dry up.
 
The question is do they work? Imo they're quite an eye sore to have some big hole in the ground that has to be mowed regularly to remain functional.

One type does retain water and the other doesn't I believe a retention pond retains a foot or two of water, while a detention pond will dry up.


What alternative??

Build house on stilts ?
 
Yeah, they work. Water goes in, is filtered by the biomass, infiltrates into the soil, and is no longer impacting the public.

May want to check into local regulations. Here, we do not allow for them to retain the water unless necessary for treatment. Depending on what the runoff picks up on its way to the pond, it may need to settle into a lined basin that can be mucked out. That mucked out waste then goes to the landfill or is treated.
 
The retention ponds i have been involved with are supposed to be worked over once a year to scrape off any top crust that interferes with water percolation. I bet it never happens.
 
EPA originally required detention ponds to reduce peak water flows in streams after a moderate rain. Retention ponds came next when EPA started requiring runoff to be treated, so silt could settle out and phosphates could be taken out by reeds or other plants. The latest set of EPA standards upped the requirement for treating runoff to the point that retention ponds take up too much space, and more expensive and maintenance intensive rain gardens or other "Best Management Practices" are necessary.

I usually refer to retention ponds as "big mud puddles" or "breed mosquitoes prolifically".
 
There are several approaches currently used that eliminate the hole in the ground by constructing voids which are covered with soil.
 
Wow. Time to buy some property from the 80s with no regulations and sit on it for 30 years. Good old steel building with a dirt road leading to it.
 
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