Here is a quote from an article written about the ponds:
Alongside the main creek, the engineers constructed a series of four long catch basins and one large pond designed to absorb excess water when the creek rises to a certain point, and then release the water slowly as the runoff subsides, Twombly said. Sewer lines from the subdivision areas feed into either the creek or the catch basins.
The duck pond is another 200 yards downstream, he said. The creek feeds directly into that pond and is drained by a pipe at the lower end of the pond.
‘‘The entire system has drastically reduced the flooding,” he said. ‘‘Only in extremely strong, sustained downpours does the entire area flood. At those times, it is impossible to even tell where the duck pond is located. Downhill from the duck pond, the drainage enters a broad, flat floodplain that is consistently marshy and often has standing water.”
Twombly added that the ponds⁄basins support a diversity of animals (beaver and otters), birds (ducks and geese), plants (cattails and lily pads), amphibians (frogs) and fish (carp, sunfish and largemouth bass).
‘‘Unfortunately, the flow rate in all of the ponds is very low unless it rains, which allows a significant amount of algae to accumulate during dry spells,” he said. ‘‘Some trash also tends to accumulate in the stream itself as well as the ponds. The combination of algae and goose⁄duck excrement lends a somewhat ‘scummy’ quality to the ponds.
‘‘I am sure mosquitoes are able to breed in some sections of the ponds, though the marshy areas downstream are far more stagnant and do not have fish to feed on the larvae,” he added. ‘‘Whenever there is a major storm, much of the unwanted sediment and, hopefully, the mosquito larvae are flushed out of the system.”
THIS ARTICLE WAS WRITTEN 4 YEARS AGO, THE CONDITIONS HAVE SINCE GOTTEN MUCH BETTER
