University Of Florida Club Out To Change The Image Of Retention Ponds

November 5, 1996

GAINESVILLE — Proving that stormwater retention areas do not have to be unattractive cement pits or deep depressions in the landscape, students in the University of Florida Wetlands Club are redesigning a retention pond to both store extra water and preserve a piece of Florida’s wetlands.

“As part of UF’s natural area teaching lab — a 30-acre natural preserve on campus — the 3-acre retention pond will be used as a laboratory to re-establish some of the historic wetland communities that exist throughout north central Florida,” said Mark Clark, president of the UF Wetlands Club. “We want to turn this area into a diverse, functional part of the landscape.”

Retention ponds store rainwater that has traveled through parking lots and streets, picking up contaminants and pollution. The polluted water is temporarily stored and partially treated before entering streams, ponds and groundwater.

“Their intended use is to reduce the flood potential in developed areas. Because of the increase in impervious surfaces, the amount of water flowing downstream is increased, raising water levels,” Clark said. “Retention ponds are a temporary place to keep this water.”

The Wetlands Club redesign will turn an area by the Center for the Performing Arts into a beautiful and functional wetlands.

“We are trying to provide a wetland area that will be attractive to wildlife and aesthetically pleasing while storing water runoff,” Clark said.

The integration of wetlands in stormwater treatment is a fairly recent development. The Wetlands Club hopes to turn the area by the center into a wetlands basin, planting trees and plants native to the area and attracting nesting birds and animals.

“This is pretty new, within the last 10 years or so,” Clark said. “There are a limited number of intentionally designed wetland stormwater treatment ponds.”

Downtown Orlando is one area where the idea has been effective. The city combined a wetland stormwater retention basin with a recreational trail, resulting in a park.

“What they did was take an old sinkhole, which previously received untreated stormwater, and added a wetland to create a beautiful park downtown,” Clark said. “This enhances the value of the surrounding areas and turns these areas into diverse and functional parts of the landscape.”