Maintaining Your Detention Basin

A Guidebook for Private Owners in Cranberry Township

Detention Pond Inspection
Review the Guidebook

Detention (Dry) and retention (Wet) basins are a storm water Best Management Practice (BMP) designed to reduce the impacts of pollutants and increased storm water on local streams caused by development.

Retention ponds are stormwater basins that include a permanent pool for water quality treatment and additional capacity above the permanent pool for temporary storage. A dry detention basin is an earthen structure that provides temporary storage of runoff and functions hydraulically to attenuate stormwater runoff peaks.

The basins are designed to control runoff peak flow rates of discharge for the 1 year through the 100 year events.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PA-DEP) has mandated that every municipality inspect all detention and retention ponds annually. Cranberry Township wants to inform the homeowners how to properly maintain your ponds. Your stormwater detention and/or retention pond is an essential part of Pennsylvania’s efforts to improve the water quality of our streams, rivers, and lakes. 

Detention Pond Maintenance Responsibility


Responsibility varies throughout the Township, but if your homeowner's association (HOA) or business owns the property where the pond is located and subject to a maintenance agreement, most likely you are the responsible party. If you are unsure, contact the Township.

Detention Pond Maintenance


A consistent maintenance program is the best way to ensure that a detention basin will continue to perform its water quality and flood control functions. The first step in a maintenance program is to obtain a copy of the stormwater facility plans from either the Butler County Couryhouse Recorder of Deeds or the Township Engineering Department, to determine how your basin was designed to function.