Stormwater Ponds: Ecological benefit or detriment?

You have seen them around your city. That fenced in pond area near the parking lot that you can’t access. What is it? Stormwater ponds capture runoff from buildings and paved surfaces to store and treat water before it enters local streams. The design and management of the ponds can vary widely and often depend upon the amount of water it is built to store. Stormwater ponds can offer some ecological benefit to aquatic plants and wildlife, but as a recent research paper discusses, it depends upon the context of the site. Entitled “A review of the factors that determine whether stormwater ponds are ecological traps and/or high-quality breeding site for amphibians” in Frontiers of Ecology and Evolution (April 2018), authors Laura Clevenot, Catherine Carre, and Pierre Peach, reviewed the literature on stormwater ponds and their impacts on amphibians and found that pond ecology can vary widely. Obviously, pollutants coming in with the stormwater can be a major factor, but adjacent land uses can also impact organisms. The article states that intensive agricultural areas near ponds can deter amphibians. Forests and other wetlands near ponds can however be a positive influence that offer refuge and food. Above is a graphic that show some of the negative influences on wildlife reported in the literature regarding stormwater ponds. This review is allowed under the terms of the Creative Commons Academic License.