More than 76,000 stormwater ponds are woven into Florida neighborhoods.
Yet beneath their calm surfaces, these ponds are quietly struggling. Many are overloaded with excess nutrients, fueling algal blooms and degrading water quality. At the same time, rapid urban development is sending more stormwater rushing their way than ever before.
Despite relying on these systems every day, most residents — including many members of homeowners association (HOA) boards — don’t realize that stormwater ponds have two critical jobs, according to a new Ask IFAS document exploring what homeowners know about the ponds in their communities.
The ponds are designed to prevent flooding and to filter nutrients from runoff before it reaches natural waterways.
“Whether any given pond actually achieves that removal effectively is a separate question and depends heavily on maintenance, buffer zones, plant selection and nutrient loading,” said Hayk Khachatryan, a professor of food and resource economics at the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS). “That is why homeowner knowledge matters.”
Specifically, the survey shows that, out of the 2,499 homeowners who responded, only about 28% correctly identified both primary functions of these ponds.
The survey also found 70% recognize stormwater ponds help control flooding, while 37% know ponds are supposed to remove pollutants.
“The gap between 70% and 37% recognizing pollutant removal tells me that the visible, dramatic function (water rising during a storm) registers with people, while the invisible, slow function (filtration and sediment settling) does not,” said Khachatryan, a faculty member at the UF/IFAS Mid-Florida Research and Education Center. “People understand what they can see. That has real implications for how we communicate. The water-quality story needs to be made visible and concrete for homeowners to internalize it.”
Two other findings Khachatryan found significant:
- 29% thought stormwater ponds were there for aesthetic reasons.
- 18% did not know about the Florida-Friendly Landscaping™ recommendation to maintain a 10-foot wide low-maintenance buffer zone around stormwater ponds. There should be no chemical applications or mowing in these zones, which help filter pollutants from runoff before they enter the pond.
UF/IFAS Extension agents can help educate homeowners about the functions of such ponds.
“Education needs to reach everyone in the community, not just those in leadership positions,” Khachatryan said.
Khachatryan led the survey of homeowners and HOA board members as part of the document. Co-authors of the report are Samiul Haque, a post-doctoral researcher for Khachatryan, and Michelle Atkinson, environmental horticulture agent at UF/IFAS Extension Manatee County.
Khachatryan said all Floridians need to know the functions of stormwater ponds.
“These ponds are not just decorative features or amenities,” Khachatryan said. “They are engineered infrastructure doing real work for the community and local ecosystems.”
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