[asianthree]

I pulled up pics from 2008 ponds were overflowing during April, of course TV growth was mostly to newly LSL.

April 2010 the ponds looked exactly the same as today, except 8’ gators were more frequent. Traveling to and from our house you had to be careful driving between ponds because of large gator crossing.

So not much different in pics since 2010. However retention ponds in 2017 Irma with tunnels flooded not passable to 2024 Milton is hard to gage. Most Ponds didn’t exist but were definitely at highest depths. Tunnels didn’t see the large tunnel flooding with Milton.

Every year a thread is started about “why are the Ponds So Low” in a few months the tread title “why are the ponds overflowing and the sprinklers are running 24/7”

[Nana2Teddy]

Originally Posted by Jim1mack

IMO the ponds were drawn down way, way, way too low after the last two hurricanes. Grass is growing where water levels should be. No appreciable rain in my weather apps 45 day forecast. I golf executive and championship courses five days a week and fear the courses are headed to the deteriated conditions they were last year.

Exactly! After the last hurricane had us flush with water everywhere they should’ve left those ponds full and let nature take its course. We had so much water we’d still have full ponds now. Draining the ponds as much as they do after a hurricane by running the sprinklers constantly on already saturated grass will never make sense to me. Now we not only have half empty or totally empty ponds everywhere except the new areas of course, but they’ve stopped running the sprinklers too so all of the grass common areas (at least down south here) are dry, brown, and ugly. What a crazy, nonsensical system.

[CoachKandSportsguy]

Originally Posted by asianthree

Every year a thread is started about “why are the Ponds So Low” in a few months the tread title “why are the ponds overflowing and the sprinklers are running 24/7”

The weather channel TWC just had a small segment on the FL drought, where down South Florida, there is an extreme section. Their note: We are one to two thunderstorms away from back to normal.

Rainy season is May 15th to October 15th, which is mostly standard hurricane season.

TWC is expecting rain to return sometime next week. .

patience, grasshopper, patience

[Nana2Teddy]

Originally Posted by Old Traveller

The dry season ends the last full week of May. Write it down. Mother Nature flips a switch and the heat, humidity and afternoon storms roll in. The Villages drained the ponds pretty good before the last hurricane of 2024, Milton I believe. However, the Villages didn't get the anticipated rain, thus a shortage. But, that's better than homes flooding if Milton had dropped 20 inches of rain. Homes in the Villages north of 466 use all potable water from the aquifer. Homes south of 466 use non potable water for landscaping and potable water for homes and our outside hoses from the aquifer. However, if the ponds dry up they use potable water from the aquifer for landscaping. Tom Hanks is narrating a series on television called "The Americas". Hanks said Florida's aquifer is over a thousand feet deep in some areas. He said every rain storm drops billions of gallons of water. The rivers flowing into Crystal Springs Florida, where the manatees hang out in the winter, delivers between 800 to 500 million gallons of water per day.

Actually, they significantly drained the ponds after Milton, which was our last hurricane. If they’d left the water alone at that time since no new storms were in the forecast, we’d still have full ponds now. This flood prevention system would make sense if it was used sensibly, but it’s not.

[jimkerr]

Originally Posted by Jim1mack

IMO the ponds were drawn down way, way, way too low after the last two hurricanes. Grass is growing where water levels should be. No appreciable rain in my weather apps 45 day forecast. I golf executive and championship courses five days a week and fear the courses are headed to the deteriated conditions they were last year.

Agreed. I thought that when I saw how much they pumped out of the ponds in Linden, Fenny, Desoto and Monarch Grove. I’m sure other areas are the same.

[Babubhat]

Similar to NSCUDD, WUDD receives excess reclaim from the City of Leesburg to supplement The Villages supply. Periods of low rainfall and reclaim are supplemented by mostly Lower Floridan groundwater. Due to a few previously developed Upper Floridan wells, this irrigation system is not quite 100% alternatively sourced.


What is My Water Source? | VillagesWaterWisdom

[Nana2Teddy]

Originally Posted by CoachKandSportsguy

The weather channel TWC just had a small segment on the FL drought, where down South Florida, there is an extreme section. Their note: We are one to two thunderstorms away from back to normal.

Rainy season is May 15th to October 15th, which is mostly standard hurricane season.

TWC is expecting rain to return sometime next week. .

patience, grasshopper, patience

In the meantime common area lawns in our village have died because they’ve stopped watering, and we have ponds that are completely empty. From our experience it takes all summer and a hurricane or two to refill the ponds, only to see the villages empty them again after the final hurricane for no reason. Crazy!

[Minoletti]

get you some soon FORE!!

[Danube]

Originally Posted by Nana2Teddy

Exactly! After the last hurricane had us flush with water everywhere they should’ve left those ponds full and let nature take its course. We had so much water we’d still have full ponds now. Draining the ponds as much as they do after a hurricane by running the sprinklers constantly on already saturated grass will never make sense to me. Now we not only have half empty or totally empty ponds everywhere except the new areas of course, but they’ve stopped running the sprinklers too so all of the grass common areas (at least down south here) are dry, brown, and ugly. What a crazy, nonsensical system.

///7

[golfing eagles]

Originally Posted by Nana2Teddy

In the meantime common area lawns in our village have died because they’ve stopped watering, and we have ponds that are completely empty. From our experience it takes all summer and a hurricane or two to refill the ponds, only to see the villages empty them again after the final hurricane for no reason. Crazy!

Crazy??? Maybe. Or maybe, just maybe, the experts that are in charge of water management know a bit more about it than the posters on TOTV. Just maybe

[biker1]

If you have questions about water management for a particular retention pond you can call Property Management at 352-753-4022. They will send a representative out to talk to you. I have found them very responsive. They do tend to keep the retention pond in back of my house a bit lower than I would prefer but I did understand their reasoning once they talked with me. Regarding grass, it tends to go dormant when there are dry conditions. We are still in the dry season and have also had below average precipitation this year. The rainy season is June, July, August, and September and the retention ponds will refill and the grass will green up.

Originally Posted by Nana2Teddy

Exactly! After the last hurricane had us flush with water everywhere they should’ve left those ponds full and let nature take its course. We had so much water we’d still have full ponds now. Draining the ponds as much as they do after a hurricane by running the sprinklers constantly on already saturated grass will never make sense to me. Now we not only have half empty or totally empty ponds everywhere except the new areas of course, but they’ve stopped running the sprinklers too so all of the grass common areas (at least down south here) are dry, brown, and ugly. What a crazy, nonsensical system.

[CoachKandSportsguy]

Originally Posted by golfing eagles

Crazy??? Maybe. Or maybe, just maybe, the experts that are in charge of water management know a bit more about it than the posters on TOTV. Just maybe

or maybe human behavior can actually exxagerate local environmental patterns, as this area as pastureland did not have the mandated green lawn requirements, and the asphalt heat syncs can raise local temperatures and cause localized changes . .

FL wouldn't be FL without air conditioning. . and the millions of human migration into a small area cannot "not impact" the local environment. There is nothing which is unlimited on this earth, and there are local limits to everything as well. .

[merrymini]

I have seen it worst then this several years ago. They will begin restricting watering. Eventually, it starts to rain again.

[dtennent]

Having lived in a river town and seen the effects of flooding, you would be happy to look at low pond levels rather cleaning flood mud from your home. I have been impressed by the water management of ponds and the flood prevention of the areas south of 441. When Irma came through and dropped a huge amount of rain on us, the water behind our house did not over flow the banks and come into our house.

If the system is near its maximum capacity, it takes a few weeks to lower it to give a buffer for the next storm. A hurricane can form and hit us in less than 7 to 10 days.

[Stu from NYC]

Originally Posted by Nana2Teddy

In the meantime common area lawns in our village have died because they’ve stopped watering, and we have ponds that are completely empty. From our experience it takes all summer and a hurricane or two to refill the ponds, only to see the villages empty them again after the final hurricane for no reason. Crazy!

During the last hurricane we received 8 1/2 inches of rain during its passing. Remarkably no flooding.

The folks who designed and run our water systems have done an incredible job.

Be thankful.