The storm pond at Vittera Park in the Northlands area of Medicine Hat is one of several throughout the city that help with water filtration. Ross Lavigne/CHAT News

By Jesse Gill

Storm ponds in Medicine Hat help filtration process for rain water

Aug 1, 2024 | 5:42 PM

There are a number of storm water ponds located throughout the City of Medicine Hat, providing a filtration process for rain water.

Chris Coslovich said that most of these wet ponds consists of two zones.

“There’s a sediment forebay at the inlet of the pond. It’s a little bit deeper than the main body of the pond. It gets that first flush within the first 10 minutes of rainfall,” Coslovich said.

“The sediment and contaminants are kind of flushed off the streets and not into the pond. It allows the water to sit in there for a short period of time and let all that sediment to kind of settle out.”

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As the rain continues and fills the pond, it will spill over into the wetland zone that includes a number of aquatic vegetation species to naturally filter the water to help remove items like fertilizers and pesticides.

These ponds are connected to a receiving body of water, either the South Saskatchewan River, Ross Creek, Bullshead Creek or Seven Person Creek.

Coslovich said studies show that this can help filter out 60 to 70 percent of contaminants, which is better than having water drain directly into the river.

He adds there are ways homeowners can help.

“Just be diligent on maintaining the yards to help reduce any kind of debris and kind of things like that from getting onto the road and then getting flushed into the catch basins,” Coslovich said.

“Which eventually make our way into the pond. It just helps us in our maintenance and helps improve the efficiency of the overall system.”

People are also advised to stay out of these ponds as they do still contain a large number of contaminants.