Group’s pond scheme leads to new brochure

EAST COUNTY — The “lakes” in Lakewood Ranch aren’t really lakes. They’re stormwater detention ponds. What’s the difference?

“It’s a matter of perception,” said Greenbrook resident Joe Sidiski said. “But ponds serve a purpose and help keep our water clean.”

Sidiski, a former engineer, is part of the Protect Our Ponds (POP) task force that recently created and released a brochure titled “Lakewood Ranch Lakes: More Than Just a Pretty Pond” that highlights best practices in landscaping, such as not mowing the lawn too close to a pond, along with information on pond functions.

“Ponds are environmentally sensitive items,” Sidiski said. They clean the water before it distributes it into the water shed. We want these ponds to remain the amenity they are to most of our homes.” 

Since the POP group formed in August, it has hosted a range of discussions and a science café to alert residents about pond issues,  but the brochure is the task force’s first tangible, hang-on-the-refrigerator type of effort. 

It illustrates how residents’ activities — such as sweeping grass clippings, debris and other litter into the gutters or the street — affect the health of ponds. If swept into a gutter, the materials listed above will float into a nearby detention pond.

Ponds with too much pollutant buildup could need to be dredged, at an estimated cost of $75,000 or more per pond.

 “The more pollutants we keep out of our ponds, the better they will look and the less expense we will pay in maintaining them,” said Ryan Heise, director of operations for Lakewood Ranch Town Hall. 

Contact Amanda Sebastiano at [email protected].