When Jim Tauer bought his home in the Lakes of Blaine development, the pond at the foot of his sloping back yard was a selling point for which he paid extra.
But last spring, record rains turned the man-made pond into a costly problem. Rain and runoff filled it to the brim and caused erosion, leaving a small cliff at the shoreline. Tauer and some of the other two dozen homeowners whose yards back up to the pond fear they'll lose even more ground in next spring's rains and runoff.
"I thought [the pond] was part of the beauty of the landscape," Tauer said. "I thought they put all these in for aesthetics. ... I paid a premium to be on this pond. I think it was about $10,000."
He said he and neighbors were never told that it was built to collect and filter stormwater.
Their pond is one of about 300 dotting newer neighborhoods across Blaine. They've become ubiquitous in more recent suburbs. Woodbury has nearly 550, Maple Grove about 380.
The ponds were not meant to look pretty or to be clean and pristine, city scientists and staffers say. They were built to comply with federal law.
Since 1994, the U.S. Clean Water Act has required new developments to trap pollutants, said Michael Findorff of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, which oversees stormwater pond construction and permitting.
"Realtors say it's waterfront," he said. "Really, it's a stormwater treatment device."