Now if the pools were like this:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/05/garden/05pools.html
Add some turtles,frogs, snails, fish, wading birds and maybe if there were enough of them put in they might just change the overall local climate enough to go from drought stricken to more naturally humid therefore providing conditions for permaculture projects. Nah, forget it, that's a really stupid idea...

I have two such small pools and one large one. I keep fish in them and in summer, my alligator snapping turtle lives in the large one. I couldn't afford the water bill if I used city water, so fill them from the irrigation ditch. They were designed for a pump and filter but I use a gravity fed system & one way (downstream) flow thru. The ponds are 36 years old and just this past winter the drain pipe of the large pool froze and cracked. This has never happened before and I'm not sure how to fix it. All my fish died as the water leaked out below the ice. So this year, for the first time, I may not have my big outdoor aquarium. Mac Snap may have to stay indoors all summer.

So how did you get a permit to keep wildlife?

Look at the neighborhoods with huge forclosure rates, the pools are now turning into 1000sqft watering holes, amazing to see how fast left alone nature claims back territory (granted with non-native species, but still.)

Watering holes for mosquito larvae. Not a good by-product of foreclosed homes.

Here is a partial solution:

http://www.mosquitocontrol.org/pgs/mosquitofish.html

Gambusia have been used for mosquito control in the US since the early 1900’s. Various agencies throughout the world have developed stocking guidelines for mosquito control in swimming pools (abandoned), ornamental pools, ditches, wetlands, mine pits, storm water and waste water disposal lagoons, natural creeks, animal watering troughs and small seasonal or permanent ponds. Recommended stocking rates in the US range from 15-100 fish for back yard ornamental ponds to 2,500 fish/acre for small ponds and ditches.