Why do the sprinklers run in the rain in The VIllages?

It might look like The Villages are wasting water if you see the sprinklers on the golf courses or in public landscaping running while it's raining. But it's not a waste! Let me explain. The Villages takes its water management seriously. Every layout of every village rec center, square, and golf course, is designed to funnel any rain runoff into retention ponds. As you might imagine, these ponds can get very full during the rainy season or even after a big rain. In fact as The Village's stands of 2022 it has the capability of retaining 500 million gallons of storm water in its retention ponds, according to watermatters.org. How does The Villages make sure the retention ponds don't flood into streets, homes, and rec centers? They run the large sprinklers that use the retention pond storm runoff to spread and slow the water coming into the retention ponds. So as the water in the ponds gets higher, the sprinklers are turned on and they siphon water off the ponds. Eventually that water will return to the ponds, but evaporation and the filtering of the water into the soil or landscaping allows for a delayed refilling of the ponds. When you irrigate your lawn in The Villages, you are using the water from the retention ponds as well. However, if the retention pond level gets below a certain point, The Villages also uses the Florida Lower Aquifer. In addition, 8.5 million gallons per day of reclaimed water from the water treatment plants is a used in The Villages for landscaping public areas or golf courses. You pay two monthly water bills. One for the water that comes from your tap that comes from the Lower Florida Aquifer and one for the irrigation water you use which includes your sprinkler system, outside spigots, including water for pools and hot tubs, that comes from the retention ponds.

So you might be asking, does the retention water smell? Is it full of chemicals? Is the water from my tap "hard"? All good questions! Yes, sometimes the sprinkler water running on the golf courses has an odor, like a fishy odor. I haven't noticed a bad smell from my yard sprinklers but that might vary from Village to Village. Since most people in The Villages need chemicals to fight pests and fertilize their lawn, chemicals in lawn runoff can be an environmental hazard. My suggestion is be sure to use a reputable company for your lawn care; one that has been in business for many years and knows just how much and which chemicals are needed to keep your yard healthy. But also, try to use more "natural" methods to fight weeds in the landscaping. Strategies like barriers and all-natural treatments will help reduce the harmful chemicals in our run-off. Lastly, yes, our water is extremely hard here in The Villages. Filters in faucets and shower heads need to be cleaned or replaced yearly or semi-annually. Some Villagers have a whole-home softener system. I will cover that topic in another blog post.