Sustainable Sarasota Ponders Stormwater Runoff

Welcome to the rainy season, the time of year determining if we live in a drought for the rest of the year. So far the summer thunderstorms have been more frequent, although not enough for the Southwest Florida Water Management District to lift all watering restrictions.

With with those storms comes storm water and runoff into the bayous, estuaries and bays. Monday afternoon Rob Wright with Sarasota County gave a few suggestions to the Sustainable Sarasota Partnership meeting about how citizens can deal with too much water.

“Sarasota County has five different watersheds,” said Wright. “That’s where all the runoff goes.” For the city, Sarasota Bay is the major recipient. Once storm water reaches the bay, it mingles with salt water and is of no further use to people. 

“How do we keep more water on-site?” Wright asked. The county is exploring a variety of techniques that homeowners can use to reduce runoff, and cut costs. In Florida about 59 percent of an average homeowner’s water bill goes for irrigation. 

“Rainwater harvesting allows the use of that water,” he said. The county monthly sells a rainbarrel kit at cost. It is a 55-gallon plastic drum with the associated hardware to plumb rainwater from gutters into the barrel. From there it can be used later to water plants and lawns.

Because water from the barrel is not pressurized, it can’t drive an in-ground irrigation system. But it can be used to fill a sprinkler bucket to hand-water all the Florida-native plants Wright encourages people to use. 

He also tries to educate homeowner associations about how to maintain the retention ponds developers dug to meet county code. It’s an old Florida regime, dig a hole and pile the dirt around it. Then put sod from the house down to the pond. Voila, a swamp becomes a subdivision. 

Unfortunately the pond wants to return to being a swamp. Its sides erode, and the material fills in the deeper areas. Wright encourages people living next to retention ponds to recognize this phenomenon, and fight it by stabilizing the banks with vegetation other than commercial sod. 

Using plants like dixie iris, pickerel weed and the white pond lily can stabilize the banks. “The smaller the pond, the faster it will fill in,” he said. 

Wright reminded the audience Sarasota County’s fertilizer ordinance bans the use of fertilizers from June 1 to September 30. In the rainy season much of it ends up in the bay and promotes algae blooms, perhaps even red tide algae. The county ordinance was almost overturned by the Florida Legislature this spring, and spared only at the last minute. 

Wright is the coordinator of the county’s Neighborhood Environmental Stewardship Team. The Sustainable Sarasota Partnership meets the first monday of every month on the second floor of the County Administration Building on Charles Ringling Boulevard. It is a monthly gathering of people from business, industry, finance, government, citizen groups and others interested in efforts to keep Sarasota on the cutting edge of creating a sustainable community.