Have you ever seen a small pond just in front of a huge parking lot at the local mall?
The pond isn’t there for swimming or sailing. It’s a “detention pond.” It stores rainwater that comes from the parking lot pavement. This water moves into the storm sewers.
A detention pond is a great way to drain the rain. It has nothing to do with detention hall, but there is one similarity. In detention hall, students just sit around waiting for it to end. In detention ponds, water just sits around waiting to be drained away.
This pond, called a “detention pond,” catches water flowing from a cluster of homes.
Photo: USDA NRCS