Linkedin-in X-twitter

Day: November 2, 2022

Smart Pond Technology in Florida

National Stormwater Trust is working with businesses, local governments, and residential communities across Florida to deploy the latest smart stormwater technology from OptiRTC, the leader in forecast-based control of stormwater infrastructure. Additional Smart Ponds are scheduled for installation in the Tampa Bay area and will soon be in communities like the LeeVista Center in Orlando, JAXPORT, Port Canaveral, and Seascape in Florida’s Panhandle, and America’s favorite retirement community – The Villages.

 

We're Proud to Partner With Some of the Top Brands In Florida

How Smart Ponds Work

Most Floridians are familiar with a traditional stormwater pond. They are all around us in residential communities, commercial and business districts, airports, seaports, and similar developments. Traditional ponds hold rain and stormwater runoff. However, in large storms, these ponds often overflow and flood the surrounding area with untreated stormwater.

 The latest innovation in stormwater management is to connect a pond to live weather forecast data and use that information to project water levels and, if necessary, automatically lower its water level before a storm arrives. While the sun is still shining, an NST Smart Pond can actively drain itself to increase its flood storage capacity while in constant communication with professional stormwater managers who can oversee its performance and even remotely control the pond. These are exactly the steps that National Stormwater Trust engineers took in advance of Hurricane Ian’s landfall in Southwest Florida.

Smart Pond Technology Successfully Tested During Hurricane Ian

babcock ranch and tampa bay region results are in

While Southwest Florida continues to recover from the devastation caused by Hurricane Ian, many are looking for ways to improve the resiliency of their communities before the next large storm. One very positive story to emerge in the aftermath of the hurricane is the performance of state-of-the-art smart stormwater management technology provided by National Stormwater Trust, Inc. (NST).

Babcock Ranch, located in hard-hit Charlotte County, and Port Tampa Bay validated their decisions to invest in NST Smart Pond stormwater technology to improve resiliency.

“We couldn’t be more pleased with the performance of our six NST Smart Ponds that were in the path of Hurricane Ian. Our primary focus is on improving water quality. But when a storm of that size is headed towards Florida, our objective shifts to protecting our communities and the environment from the flooding impacts of stormwater,” said Jeff Littlejohn, National Stormwater Trust Co-Founder.

THE RESULTS ARE IN

Tampa Bay & Port Tampa Bay Area (State Road 45/1701 Maritime Blvd.)

The water level in this Smart Pond was automatically lowered by almost four feet before the first hurricane bands began to impact the region. That extra storage enabled the Smart Pond to capture over 175,000 cubic feet of untreated stormwater, preventing its discharge into the neighboring community and nearby Tampa Bay.

Babcock Ranch

NST Smart Ponds in this Southwest Florida residential community located near the Caloosahatchee River used live rainfall forecasts to project the impact of the storm before its arrival. This real-time flood forecasting capability gave the community’s leaders assurance that its large lakes had adequate storage to contain the stormwater and protect the homes, roadways, and schools.

“This confirms for the me the value of smart stormwater technology,” said Syd Kitson, Chairman and CEO, Kitson & Partners. “As our community grows, we look forward to continued collaboration with NST to incorporate their Smart Pond technology.”