OXFORD -- Residents in a section of The Villages are paying for repairs to a large retention pond emptied by the latest of several sinkholes.

The retirement community is installing a thick plastic liner -- aiming to prevent another gaping hole at the pond in northeast Sumter County. The fix is required by the Southwest Florida Water Management District, which has called sinkholes in retention ponds a potential threat to public health and safety.

Work is expected to wrap up by the end of the month.
 

The $127,000 price is being paid by The Villages' Community Development District No. 2, according to administrator Pete Wahl. The small government is among several tax districts serving the 33,000-resident community. The plastic liner is considered a better fix for the pond, which The Villages calls Lago Bonito -- Spanish for "pretty lake." Six homeowners bordering the site paid premium prices for waterfront homes. When a hole swallowed the water last year, they angrily picketed the developer to fix the problem. Then another hole opened in February, leaving Lago Bonito nearly empty again. The homeowners sought help from the water district, which ordered The Villages to solve the sinkhole problem in early April. Water officials say The Villages is in a part of the state prone to major sinkhole problems. The area has relatively thin layers of soft soil on the surface, allowing water to flush quickly through to underlying limestone and groundwater drinking supplies.

The plastic liner is supposed to keep water — and pollution — in this retention pond at The Villages, and out of the underground aquifer.     Workers stretch black plastic over the dry bottom of a retention pond in The Villages retirement community Wednesday.

Rainwater draining through the soil can erode the limestone, which eventually gives way to the heavy soil above and creates sinkholes. Large retention ponds can worsen the problem, with even more water and weight on the surface.

Retention ponds collect stormwater runoff from streets and lawns, which can add oil, pesticides and other pollution.

Developers often are required to line ponds with heavy clay or plastic liners to prevent the pollution from flushing into the underground aquifer.

The community has used concrete and clay for years to fill in holes that have opened up.

Water officials say that was not effective for Lago Bonito. They suggested The Villages install the synthetic liner as a more permanent fix.

The Villages has had more than 30 sinkholes in the past several years, including several that emptied retention ponds.