About a dozen volunteers spent a hot Sunday morning knee-deep in a stormwater retention pond at the Land O' Lakes Recreation Complex on July 12, ripping out invasive plants and lining the banks with native Florida species.
The work was the culmination of the Stormwater Smart Solutions Pond Restoration project, a collaboration between UF/IFAS Extension and Pasco County Public Works funded by a Tampa Bay Estuary Program Bay Mini-Grant of up to $10,000.
"It was in bad shape — the water was pretty gross-colored and mucky, and so we had all those invasive (plants that had) taken over," said Megan Moore, UF/IFAS Extension Sea Grant agent for Pasco County and the project leader. "All the other ponds on the property have a lot of plant growth and good water quality, but this one was really suffering."
Moore, the first-ever Florida Sea Grant agent assigned to Pasco County, said the pond had become stagnant while neighboring ponds on the same property maintained healthy water quality. Florida has roughly 76,000 stormwater ponds, and most don't meet good water-quality standards, she said.
The project came in two phases. Phase 1 consisted of four free educational seminars — two at the Land O' Lakes library and two at the New River library — covering stormwater pollution, watersheds and do-it-yourself pond restoration fixes that residents, neighborhoods and HOAs could tackle on their own. Phase 2 was the Sunday, July 12, planting day.
Pasco County environmental program coordinator Milla Turner waded into the pond alongside volunteers that morning. Turner said the county's environmental division within Public Works is not quite three years old and is still building capacity. Pasco has about 6,000 water bodies spread across 868 square miles, she said, far more than county staff can manage alone.
That's where resident volunteers come in. In mid-2025, Public Works launched its Adopt-A-Pond and Lake Management program, a volunteer-driven effort that pairs interested residents or HOAs with county staff to restore and maintain local ponds and lakes. Turner described the program as collaborative: residents apply, then work with county staff through every step including planting.
Turner and Moore said they hope the Land O' Lakes project becomes a replicable template for neighborhoods across the county's roughly 6,000 water bodies.
Residents interested in the Adopt-A-Pond program can visit pascocountyfl.gov/services/public_works/adopt_a_pond.php or contact Pasco County Public Works directly.
What's next
UF/IFAS Pasco County Extension will host a free Stormwater Smart Solutions Bioretention Pond Project Summary Seminar on Tuesday, Aug. 4, at 5 p.m. Details are available on Eventbrite under the Stormwater Smart Solutions Series.
