Some of your ponds may even show signs of costly erosion as shown above. Bank erosion will fill up your pond with soil limiting its capacity to hold stormwater requiring costly bank remediation or even dredging.
If your community is facing these problems with your ponds, you should contact our Healthy Pond Collaborative (HPC) for free expert advice and some potential funding to address these problems that often face older stormwater ponds. The HPC is a partnership that includes START, the Sarasota County NEST Program, the Manatee County Department of Natural Resources, the University of Florida IFAS Sarasota Extension, the Suncoast Waterkeeper and the Science and Environment Council of southwest Florida. In the past two years, the HPC has visited over 70 communities in Sarasota and Manatee Counties to offer advice to improve your ailing stormwater ponds and provide grants to cover the cost of the native aquatic plants that are an essential part of a successful pond enhancement program.
To learn more about how the HPC can help your stormwater ponds, contact START’s Lonnie Ready at LAReady@earthlink.net.
