Retention ponds are one way to combat sediment pollution in rivers and their surrounding watershed.
Retention ponds are simply basins which are designed to hold peak flows and slowly release water into a stream or groundwater. This allows sediment, trapped within the peak runoff flow, to settle on the bottom of the pond instead of flowing into the river. An issue that arises when addressing retention ponds is their efficiency potential. Four retention ponds were measured in the Dog River watershed in order to determine their efficiency. These ponds were tested by comparing their area to rainfall amounts of a five, ten, fifty, and one hundred year flood cycle event.