Maintenance is required in all systems, from an automobile to a factory, an orchard to a stormwater harvesting strategy. However, most of the above strategies are pretty self-explanatory. The exceptions are green roofs, which require professional maintenance on an annual or semi-annual basis, as well as stormwater ponds.
As owners can maintain the latter themselves, and as these are the most productive stormwater management techniques, we will focus our efforts here.
“Ponds need to be maintained with some regularity if one intends to keep the pond operating as expected and one appreciates increasing the odds of NOT encountering extraordinary costly issues down the road,” explains Construction Eco Services. Sadly, too often these ponds are simply forgotten about.
The truth is, though, that both detention and retention ponds are like any other waterway. They require ongoing maintenance if you want them to keep serving their purpose. Luckily, there’s a simple way to make maintenance easier to remember and accomplish.
Hot Tip: Make Your Pond Attractive!
“All too often,” says Construction Eco Services, “the pond is planned out to be in back of a property or in some other ‘out-of-sight’ location. The owner wants it to perform its duty, but assumes it will be an unattractive feature and so wants it out of sight.”
The problem with that can be summed up with the age-old adage, Out of sight, out of mind. If you’re not looking at a pond, you’re less likely to perform the basic tasks to help keep it up: trash removal, mowing, debris removal, and so on.
The problem with this? “Bringing a neglected pond up to standard can be a huge, unexpected expense, as well as an environmental disaster,” says the same source. “Failures within the pond and damages to downstream properties can run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. And don’t forget about the attention from local government entities, and likely subsequent fines, that a failed pond brings with it.”
Indeed, if you build a pond and then let it build up massive amounts of algae or trash, then you’re actually adding to the problem of stormwater runoff. In the next overflow event, your well-meaning pond will add significantly to the pollution, disease, and litter that we’re trying to avoid.
Instead, you need to practice good maintenance.
Stormwater Harvesting Maintenance
Small stormwater management tactics require maintenance, but as they’re less work and have less impact on the water supply, they’re not as taxing on the owner. It’s not too hard to clean out a rain barrel or weed a small bioswale in the front yard.
Large ponds, however, require a bit more. The good news is that if you purchase a liner that won’t contribute to toxicity and cultivate a natural environment around the pond to bring it into the ecosystem, maintenance becomes much easier. Ponds that have greenery around them, and fish and aquatic plants living in them, are much healthier and less likely to develop algae and other muck. This is especially true if you install a filter.
However, you’ll still need to perform general maintenance activities every so often. These include, as noted above:
- Litter pickup: Trash lying around draws unsavory wild critters and can leach chemicals into the pond. Plan to pick it up on a schedule that matches the accumulation of litter, which will depend on how heavily trafficked your pond is and whether there is public access.
- Brush and debris clearance: Cluttered, dry debris and brush not only spread plant diseases, but they also pose a wildfire hazard. Dry brush acts as kindling, allowing fire to “jump” from further away and ultimately increasing the risks to your home and property.
- Mowing: If you have grass surrounding the pond, keep it mowed so that you can access the pond. Native grasses are beneficial when they grow tall, however, so in that case you might simply mow walking and maintenance paths.
If you complete these activities on a regular basis, you won’t have much to worry about. Your pond will continue to harvest stormwater long into the future, and look lovely to boot.
