Why does new development in the US have detention ponds but other countries don't have them? (major, park)

[turf3]

I saw detention ponds in Japan.

[gx89]

Originally Posted by masssachoicetts

I rarely see this in the Northeast. Florida I did alot.

we have sumps, in the Northeast, Florida and the south have retention ponds.

[Lillie767]

I never heard of detention ponds. I thought it was a typo.

[lunetunelover]

There are retention ponds and detention ponds.

Each functions differently depending on the amount of water draining to them and the runoff that needs to be removed.

Detention ponds are typically dry except during rainfall events but they drain usually quickly (about 3 days-ish).

Retention ponds are typically "wet" meaning they will retain some of the water that drains to them.

[reneeh63]

In the midwest, there are lots of retention ponds. In fact, if it's a fairly large one the developers charge more for the surrounding lots because they serve as a water feature. Many areas in the midwest aren't particularly close to large natural lakes or rivers so I guess the retention ponds can serve a dual purpose if they are done in an attractive way. They also attract a lot of geese and ducks which can be nice to look at but also a nuisance when there are so many and lots of poop to deal with!

[jcp123]

Originally Posted by reneeh63

In the midwest, there are lots of retention ponds. In fact, if it's a fairly large one the developers charge more for the surrounding lots because they serve as a water feature. Many areas in the midwest aren't particularly close to large natural lakes or rivers so I guess the retention ponds can serve a dual purpose if they are done in an attractive way. They also attract a lot of geese and ducks which can be nice to look at but also a nuisance when there are so many and lots of poop to deal with!

Was gonna say, I see them almost exclusively in the Midwest, have gone to hundreds if not thousands of warehouses and really didn’t see these outside of the Midwest. St. Louis up roughly through NE Ohio were the thickest areas for these. Never knew what they were for or what they were called. Now I at least know what to call them so that I can search for them.

[SunGrins]

We live in a flash flood prone desert area and there are retention ponds and various controls to hold back or divert excess water. There is little or no residential development near arroyos. I'm not sure how the retention ponds are located. There is one near me that is probably two acres and quite deep but I have never seen any water in it.

[melonside421]

How do you guys get drinking water if floodwater is dismissed as bad because ”muh rain bad”. Rain is what makes the Eastern United States alot more inhabitable than the Western US. Big think moment, I know. However, Washington and Oregon as well as Northern California have more rain than even the eastern US, but people complain that rain is bad, but maybe it's not true???

[Brave New World]

Originally Posted by paiste13

I was driving around the suburban areas of my town yesterday and noticed the most common thing our detention ponds. A place for rainwater to go.

Yet when I was in Europe a few months ago for work, even in their new areas they don't have detention ponds.

Where does the rainfall go in places like that, on why do we deal with it differently? It seems like an inefficient waste of space to gather water on high taxable pieces of ground.

We do have them in the UK, however they are known as Balancing Ponds, whilst in terms of urban areas much of the flood drainage is under ground, with cities such as London having a number of rivers running under it's streets.

The new London's vast new Tideway Super Sewer can also take excess rain water, and most UK cities have similar schemes related to any potential flood planning.

In terms of more rural areas, they often rely on flood defences and flood plains, as well as reservoirs and lakes in order to deal with excess water.

[bus man]

I've never heard of detention ponds. Is this a typo for retention ponds, or are they two separate things?

Here in Maryland, they're built to help manage stormwater runoff, to reduce the incidence and severity of flooding during heavy rain. A good number of them are built within highway interchanges (i.e. between the main road and the exit ramp), which is land that would otherwise go to waste.