Red/Brown Clouds In Water? - 09/24/18 06:38 PM
Hello,
We live on a 1.5 acre neighborhood pond along with 8 other homes. The pond is roughly rectangular shaped with homes on two sides and open space on the other two sides. The pond is roughly 15 years old and 15-20 feet deep. There are two inlets from road and yard/sump pump runoff. There is one outlet that drains into a creek. We assume it’s also spring fed given the fact that there are numerous springs in people’s yards around the pond. Even when we have a dry spell the water never drops below the point to where it’s not continuously draining into the creek. The water is generally cold/refreshing throughout summer and it does not freeze solid in the winter. I have not done a secchi disk test but I would guess it to be around two feet typically. We live in a heavy clay soil area. This is our second summer living here and no pond maintenance has ever been done to our knowledge.
This summer has been dry up until the end of August where we had a rain storm that yielded about 3” of rain in a day causing the pond the rise about a foot for a couple days. About two weeks after that rain event we could see large clouds of brown/red in the water, we’re talking multiple 250 sq. ft. masses visible from our deck looking over the pond. The brown/red stuff isn’t on the surface of the water, more so suspended. The water has an odor to it that can be smelt from just sitting on the deck. Not a horribly offensive odor but a strong pond/swamp odor. The brown/red areas are defined, we can be at our beach and have normal “clear” water in one spot and then move over a foot and it goes right from “clear” to where you can’t see the bottom in a couple inches of water. I attached some pictures of the “clouds” (not easily captured), the brown/red when it washes up on the sand, and some pictures of it in a glass. Note that in a glass it seems that 80% settles but it still has a smell. We’re assuming whatever it is, it will eventually settle, but we would love to figure out what it is because whenever we swim, last summer and this summer, that smell stays with us after we dry off. The smell is just definitely stronger right now.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/FCoyqQeJ4Jjt2pyh9
We live on a 1.5 acre neighborhood pond along with 8 other homes. The pond is roughly rectangular shaped with homes on two sides and open space on the other two sides. The pond is roughly 15 years old and 15-20 feet deep. There are two inlets from road and yard/sump pump runoff. There is one outlet that drains into a creek. We assume it’s also spring fed given the fact that there are numerous springs in people’s yards around the pond. Even when we have a dry spell the water never drops below the point to where it’s not continuously draining into the creek. The water is generally cold/refreshing throughout summer and it does not freeze solid in the winter. I have not done a secchi disk test but I would guess it to be around two feet typically. We live in a heavy clay soil area. This is our second summer living here and no pond maintenance has ever been done to our knowledge.
This summer has been dry up until the end of August where we had a rain storm that yielded about 3” of rain in a day causing the pond the rise about a foot for a couple days. About two weeks after that rain event we could see large clouds of brown/red in the water, we’re talking multiple 250 sq. ft. masses visible from our deck looking over the pond. The brown/red stuff isn’t on the surface of the water, more so suspended. The water has an odor to it that can be smelt from just sitting on the deck. Not a horribly offensive odor but a strong pond/swamp odor. The brown/red areas are defined, we can be at our beach and have normal “clear” water in one spot and then move over a foot and it goes right from “clear” to where you can’t see the bottom in a couple inches of water. I attached some pictures of the “clouds” (not easily captured), the brown/red when it washes up on the sand, and some pictures of it in a glass. Note that in a glass it seems that 80% settles but it still has a smell. We’re assuming whatever it is, it will eventually settle, but we would love to figure out what it is because whenever we swim, last summer and this summer, that smell stays with us after we dry off. The smell is just definitely stronger right now.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/FCoyqQeJ4Jjt2pyh9