5/28/2023 0 Comments Banner effect pngThe results could apply to other parts of the country.Ītkinson said she wants people to view these ponds as amenities and put some value to them. Lucie counties that have a large number of stormwater ponds and where algae blooms have been a recent problem. We have our hypothesis, but we want to prove it.”Īccording to the UF press release, the researchers will conduct field work, focus groups, surveys and data collection both at the state level and in two communities in Manatee and St. “Are aesthetic preferences impacting those environmental functions? That's what we don't know for sure. “We want to have an ecosystem in there that can function and … reduce that nitrogen and phosphorus from heading out into these natural bodies of water,” Atkinson said. They’ll document environmental, social and economic benefits, collectively called ecosystem services. Without plants, the pond is more likely to experience soil erosion and intake nutrient-rich grass clippings, both of which can degrade water quality by increasing nutrient levels.Ī team of scientists with the University of Florida, including Atkinson, have been granted $1.6 million from the National Science Foundation to study stormwater ponds and the people living around them for the next four years or so across the state. UF/IFAS The top is an image before stormwater pond plantings and the bottom is after. So, there's more things impacting these ponds.” Now there's homes entirely around the edge of the pond. There used to be a pond up next to a preserve area. "We're getting smaller and smaller lot lines. folks just sometimes don't understand the plants and feel like that they're weeds, and they want them removed," Atkinson said. They originally were built with planted areas, and. "Homeowners are now impacting the management and the care of the stormwater ponds. There should be plants surrounding the ponds to protect their structure, and plants in the water to help intake some of the nutrients. Michelle Atkinson, an extension agent in Manatee County for the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, said homeowners want these ponds to look clean by removing necessary plants, which is actually having the opposite effect and forming algae. However, those qualities are actually a sign that the ponds are being mistreated. Some purchase what are labeled as "waterfront properties" and have the misguided expectation of seeing perfectly manicured green lawns surrounding a body of water clear enough to view the sky in it. They're engineered to overflow into a chain of consecutive ponds, theoretically cleaning the water more and more before ending up in a preserve or the Gulf of Mexico.īut residents have a complicated relationship with stormwater ponds. They capture stormwater runoff, which brings in a lot of street debris and pollution. More than 70,000 of these waterbodies exist across Florida. Florida researchers are tasked with identifying the benefits of stormwater ponds, and how homeowners are interacting with them.
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