Flood Mitigation: Detention Ponds and Retention Ponds
Pictured above is a Detention Pond
Reading Time: 5 Minutes
Flooding has become more prevalent in recent times due to an increase in tropical storms and hurricanes in coastal regions worldwide. “Disastrous floods driven by rapid urbanization and extreme weather events have caused millions of fatalities, and continue to cause tens of billions of dollars of direct economic loss each year.” (Wang et al., 2022).
In an effort to mitigate the damage caused by flooding government agencies and developers have devised flood management plans. These flood control plans utilize several devices, including detention and retention ponds.
A detention pond is “a large constructed depression in an urban landscape that receives and stores the stormwater runoff from large drainage areas.” (Suny Esf, 2024). A detention pond usually remains dry until a rain event. “Urban surfaces are often covered by impermeable materials such as concrete and asphalt which intensify urban runoff and pollutant concentration during storm events and lead to deterioration of the quality of surrounding water bodies. Detention ponds are used in urban stormwater management, providing two-fold benefits: flood risk reduction and pollution load minimization” (Abdulialeel et al., 2023).
Pictured Above is a Retention Pond
A retention pond is a constructed depression or basin that usually contains water temporarily or permanently and releases the overflow gradually to mitigate flooding. (Dykehouse & Edmunds, 2010). Sometimes called man-made lakes these ponds are often decorated with native plants and vegetation which enhances it aesthetically.
Tip 2: To learn more about examples that can serve as models for other communities and can provide decision-makers with valuable information about how to achieve natural hazard reduction get a copy of the book, Mitigation Success Stories in the United States. Use the following link to order, https://nationsproducts.com/products/mitigation-success-stories-in-the-united-states-edition-4-january-2002?_pos=1&_sid=9f3247e62&_ss=r
John Muhammad, President/Owner of Nation’s Builders, Host of the Business Building Blocks Podcast, Graduate Student of the University of Texas at El Paso majoring in Construction Management M.S., B.S Degree from Texas Southern University, former Site Health and Safety Specialist for the renovation of the Administration Building of the Johnson Space Center at NASA and former Superintendent for semi-custom home builder, Emerald Homes.
References:
Abduljaleel, Y., Salem, A., ul Haq, F., Awad, A., & Amiri, M. (2023). Improving detention ponds for effective stormwater management and water quality enhancement under future climate change: a simulation study using the PCSWMM model. Scientific Reports, 13(1), 5555. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-32556-x
Dykehouse, T., & Edmunds, P. J. (2010). Retention ponds AND detention ponds the recovery process
Suny ESF (2024). Dentention ponds.
https://www.esf.edu/ere/endreny/GICalculator/DetentionIntro.html
Wang, L., Cui, S., Li, Y., Huang, H., Manandhar, B., Nitivattananon, V., ... & Huang, W. (2022). A review of the flood management: from flood control to flood resilience. Heliyon, 8(11). https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844022030511