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Your Backyard Lake or Pond

The freshwater lakes and ponds in our neighborhoods are mostly man-made parts of a stormwater system, a tool for managing the runoff from rainfall. When rainwater lands on rooftops, parking lots, streets, driveways and other impervious surfaces that water cannot go through, the runoff (called stormwater) flows into grates, swales or ditches located around neighborhoods that lead the water into a stormwater pond. A stormwater pond is designed to help prevent flooding and allow pollutants to settle and be absorbed before it can drain into the ground water, our main source of drinking water, or into streams, rivers, lakes, wetlands, estuaries or the gulf.

Stormwater ponds are designed to replicate natural processes and are often required to have aquatic and wetlands plants around the perimeter or in littoral zones to create wildlife habitat and help filter stormwater runoff. For this reason, stormwater ponds are not pristine swimming or fishing lakes (e.g. clear of vegetation or phytoplankton (algae)). Vegetation filters polluted runoff, traps sediments, controls the growth of exotic or nuisance vegetation and helps make the pond visually pleasing. Aquatic plants pump oxygen into the water and create habitats for wildlife by providing cover and nurseries for fish and other organisms.

In Sarasota County, the responsibility for permitting most stormwater systems rests with both the Southwest Florida Water Management District and Sarasota County, while littoral zone monitoring is primarily managed by Sarasota County. After a developer completes construction of permitted systems in residential areas, the permit and the legal responsibility for maintaining these systems are typically passed on to a homeowners, condominium owners or property owners association. Then the upkeep and maintenance of the system becomes the responsibility of the association. Therefore, please make sure and coordinate with your respective association prior to implementing any management activities on common property.

For stormwater ponds to do their job effectively, they must be managed properly on a regular basis. Below are several resources to help manage your backyard lake or pond.

UF/IFAS Sarasota County Extension – Florida-Friendly Landscaping™ Program

Managing stormwater ponds begins with management of the pond’s watershed, which is the source of the water that flows into the pond. Preventing pollutants from entering a pond is much easier and cheaper than cleaning out a pond. The Florida-Friendly Landscaping™ Program, implemented through the UF/IFAS Sarasota County Extension Service, was developed to help reduce the nutrient load in stormwater runoff. This hands-on outreach program helps residents create landscapes with minimal negative environmental impact; a Florida-Friendly landscape.

To learn more about the Florida-Friendly Landscaping™ Program, follow think link:

http://sarasota.ifas.ufl.edu/FYN/fyn.shtml

In addition, the following two sets of guidelines have also been developed to assist property owners with learning about Habitat Creation In and Around Urban Ponds (pdf) and Practical Maintenance Guidelines for Stormwater Ponds(pdf).

NEST Program

The Sarasota County Neighborhood Environmental Stewardship Team, or NEST, promotes neighborhood involvement in environmentally friendly projects to protect and restore our shared water resources. The NEST program operates at the neighborhood-level to improve watershed-scale resources, and no matter where you are in Sarasota County, you are in one of the County's watersheds.

One of the NEST goals is to help citizens take an active role in evaluating the appearance and functionality of ponds and lakes by planting or maintaining appropriate watershed-friendly vegetation and trees along the banks or in the water. Shoreline restorations will help to minimize bank erosion, improve water quality and provide wildlife, bird and fish habitat. Shoreline restoration is an easy way to add beauty to your yard and neighborhood and help improve the health of the water bodies your stormwater impacts. Remember that water from your pond may find its way downstream into our creeks, rivers, or bays so what you do can help to restore and protect our bays.

To learn more about the NEST Program or to participate, follow this link: http://www.sarasota.wateratlas.usf.edu/Overview.aspx?aid=17

In addition, the following NEST Resource Guide (pdf) has been developed to assist property owners with taking an active part in improving water quality, restoring wildlife habitat and preserving our environment.

Littoral Zones

Many of the ponds in Sarasota County have “littoral zones”, or shallow water areas that support aquatic vegetation and mimic natural wetlands. Vegetated littoral zones provide numerous benefits, including but not limited to improving water quality in the pond before being discharged to other waters, providing aquatic habitat for fish, birds, and other wildlife, helping to prevent erosion, and reducing the likelihood of algal blooms and exotic vegetation creating an undesirable monoculture .

Most littoral zones were required to be created when your property was originally permitted as part of the stormwater management system. Littoral zones are also required to be monitored by a professional environmental consultant until success criteria is achieved. In general, a littoral zone is considered successful when at least 85% of the zone is covered by at least three different desirable plants. In addition, nuisance or exotic vegetation such as cattails and primrose willow are not to exceed 15% of the zone.

When a littoral zone has been deemed successful, monitoring may cease. However, if the littoral zone becomes unsuccessful at some point in the future, monitoring may again be needed.

As with your any aspect of a pond, vegetated littoral zones need regular maintenance to become successful and optimize their values and functions. As such, littoral zone plants should not be removed, mowed or sprayed with herbicide and routine stormwater pond maintenance should not negatively impact the littoral zone.

To learn more about managing littoral zones, please contact an environmental consultant (click here for contact list) or the County at 861-5000 for more information.