What We Do

The Lakes Management Department is responsible for the management and maintenance of the 116 ponds and lakes spread across Kiawah Island. The pond and lake system totals approximately 350 acres of water surface area with a shoreline of nearly 47 miles. The activities that go into the management of this system are:

- weekly visual inspection of the pond system
- weekly monitoring of water quality
- conducting pond edge maintenance of common property "view windows."
- fish stocking
- establishment of beneficial shoreline vegetation
- nuisance aquatic plant control
- maintenance of an extensive database of pond information
- maintenance of GIS referenced assets of the Department in our mapping program
- biannual testing of coliform levels
- biannual inspection and maintenance of water control structures
- annual analysis of fish tissue samples for pesticide and heavy metal contamination
- annual mapping of bottom contours for 20% of the ponds

The Department is also responsible for mosquito abatement activities on Kiawah Island. To facilitate this task, the island is divided into 28 zones. The activities that go into mosquito abatement are:

- island-wide, ground-based larviciding of areas of mapped standing water
- weekly monitoring and evaluation of mosquito populations in each of the 28 zones
- notification of individuals on Chemical Sensitivity List when adult control measures will be conducted
- ground-based, truck-mounted spraying for adult mosquitoes when monitoring indicates
- coordination of 4 times per year aerial larviciding with flying service
- coordination with Charleston County Mosquito Control when aerial adult control measures are needed