RUNOFF VS. THE WALKERS POND PROJECT

It has been several days since that hard rain nevertheless; we are still getting runoff from the park. This isn't good runoff that has been filtered through the ground. FILTERED. That is the key word. The water the pond is getting is full of nutrients from the weed & feed, plus the dropping from the geese, ducks and dogs. This is upsetting that delicate balance of salinity we are striving for in the pond. The park water is running right off the surface. Sometimes it runs over the asphalt and many times it is too lazy to do that so it goes under the asphalt. In many places there is nothing under the asphalt to give it support therefore it caves in.
Is there an answer to this dilemma? Yes! The following is a suggestion from an expert on these matters:
"The way I see it, the dune would allow water to pass through rather than over the land due to the nature of the sandy material, hopefully the dune would only support dune plants, and not invasive species or species we don't want to see. My vision, assuming it's feasible and I don't see why it wouldn't be, is a dune/ridge of sand and plants like you see when driving north along Rt 1 in Delaware above Fenwick Rt 54. A series of humps, ridges, can be low-level 1-2 feet above grade of walkway. Try to mimic what a barrier island looks like on bay side, dunes going to salt-marsh to water. So, going from walkway towards pond you'd establish a dune system at edge of walkway, tapering down to patens/high marsh w/ saltbushes/shrubs, and then to alterniflora and finally to water (the pond). The only difference is the orientation of the dunes around the pond (where the phragmites and other vegetation that is being maintained/by cutting, herbicide application etc. would be eliminated by dune and therefore a more natural way to effect the management objectives around the perimeter of the pond could be achieved), would not be just north and south as it is in the State parks, but would be east west as well. Dunes don't care, but if there was a loss of sand naturally as in the State park the orientation of the dune to the ocean shoreline and the prevailing winds would attent to rebuild the dune, although it may be farther west as the island tries to "walk over itself" as they are supposed to do naturally, but can't in OC due to development. So if dunes around the pond eroded some or shifted a bit due to wind, there may be a need for some maintenance but I gotta believe it would be minimal. Just seems like creating a dune may be the way to go, cause there ain't no lawns of grass in any dunes I've seen at "da beach"!"

A dune! We need a dune to, not only control the water, but think of the stability this would give the pond. This would also be very beautiful. Presently, the weeds have grown so high I'm sure people living on the park can't even see the pond.
The surface water is addressed, but what can we do about those drain pipes that run from the park into the pond? I can guarantee you that no permits were ever granted to allow that water to drain into the pond. The people living on the Bahia side of the pond were required to eliminate any runoff into the pond. No runoff! The only water that should be in the pond is water from the Assawoman Bay and rain that falls directly from the sky.