Engaging homeowner associations to reduce nutrient runoff in stormwater ponds

Abstract

Community stormwater ponds are important for water quality because of their ecological function of filtering stormwater runoff before it enters natural bodies of water. Stormwater ponds also serve an aesthetic purpose and increase property value. Homeowners in communities desire a clean look to their stormwater ponds, which demands pond managers to utilize short-term solutions, such as copper sulfate, which could create long-term problems for water quality and pond health. Some communities’ demand for higher maintenance landscapes to maintain a certain aesthetic adds to the pollution runoff taken into the stormwater ponds. When ponds take in a high level of runoff, water quality issues arise and often result in algal blooms and/or fish kills. This project discusses using community-based social marketing to determine the barriers and motivators of behavioral change as it relates to adoption of Florida-FriendlyTM landscaping practices to improve community stormwater ponds.