Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Muddy water Pond used for drinking water

Hello one and all. My name is Erv And I am a new member and this will be my first post. I have, for a number of months now, read hundreds of posts here looking for an answer to my water situation. We just bought our retirement home northwest of Martinsville Indiana, in Morgan county. We have a 5 acre pond that was put in around 1980. The pond is fully stocked with the usual suspects of Bass, Cats and Bluegill.
Here is my issue. The pond is our only supply for the household water. Our area of Morgan county due to the limestone is not condusive for water from a tradional well. I first wanted to be sure that the water was safe to drink and had installed a UV system and huge carbon filtration unit. The water tastes great and samples taken, by 3 independent testing facilities have all come back "clean and safe" for household consumption.
We do notice some discoloration of the water when filling the tub for a bath. We were told that it could be normall due to the time of year (heavy rains) and should wait until summer to retest and then possibly add an inline filter in the 4 micron range. All that being said....
I now want to focus on the fishing aspect of the pond, ie Alge and copper sulfate, duckweed, using gypsum to aid in water clarity, etc etc etc. What are the do's and dont's I need to be concerned about with a 30 year old pond. A pond that is also used for swimming and fishing as well as being the only supply of household water.

Welcome to the forum, N.O.!

I have a question first about your domestic water supply - from where and at what depth in the pond do you draw the water?

Now, as to pond management for more often encountered uses:
DO tell us what kinds of fish are in the pond and what kinds you would like to have there.
DO let us know which other (non-drinking) pond uses you think are the most important to you: swimming, fishing for food, fishing to catch large fish, etc.
DO tell us what level of vegetation occurs on the pond, with descriptions and/or pictures to let us help identify it (if needed), and what level of vegetation is acceptable to you.
Do read up on aeration systems and their benefits here. They can help with water quality for fishng and swimming, so I suspect domestic water use might also benefit from proper aeration. (Aeration Primer)

DON'T go away without waiting for better questions and ideas from everyone else on the forum.

I have a question first about your domestic water supply - from where and at what depth in the pond do you draw the water?

****** The pump is housed in an existing well casing located at bank on the retention dam end of the pond. This is due to a mishap during digging an emergency runoff channel last month. The old drain pipe was undermined by muskrats and half the retention dam had given way and during this repair the existing pump,pipe and wiring were accidentally dug up. The casing probally sat there unused for 15 years prior to the new pump. A backhoe was used to remove some of the muck and mud around the casing to get a proper amout of water to fill the casing. I was told that a new casing would need to be installed correctly with rock and gravel. This was an emergency repair.
The old pump was about 30 feet from the banking suspended 10 feet from the bottom in 15 feet of water depth. Even at this location, the water in the house was somewhat cloudy/discolored. The UV and carbon systems were installed right after the mishap.*****


Now, as to pond management for more often encountered uses:
DO tell us what kinds of fish are in the pond and what kinds you would like to have there.


****** There are 3 known types. Bass, Cats and Bluegill.******


DO let us know which other (non-drinking) pond uses you think are the most important to you: swimming, fishing for food, fishing to catch large fish, etc.


*****Swimming and catching large fish*****.


DO tell us what level of vegetation occurs on the pond, with descriptions and/or pictures to let us help identify it (if needed), and what level of vegetation is acceptable to you.

***** The only vegitation I have seen was duckweed when we first saw the property last October and alge in March after the ice melted. The duckweed had a surface area of about 1000 sq ft and was only seen when the winds shifted and blew it towards the end of the pond. The alge was very sparse and only visable in a few areas along the shore.*****

Neon Orchid, aeration is commonly used in surface waters for municipal drinking water supplies. The benefits include pre-treatment of the water by removing dissolved metals such as iron & manganese. By maintaining high oxygen levels we can also achieve a reduction in flavors, odors, and colors.

My largest concern about your post is the use of copper based compounds. Copper is a heavy metal and cannot be metabolized by humans. This means that over time you will be accumulating copper in the body tissues of you and your family if you are drinking the water. This can lead to serious health isssues.

Your UV/Filter system is great to achieve "near bottled water quality". However, UV does not kill all pathogens or algae and does not remove the colors you speak of.

My question is; do you have a storage tank for the water or do you draw it on demand from the pond? I would imagine you have a storage tank. If so you can use a subsurface diffuser to bubble ozone into the tank. Ozone WILL remove all organically derived colors, odors, flavors, and human pathogens. Coupled with your existing filters, you would truly have bottled water quality coming from your tap.

Personally, I think with a fairly small amount of DW present, I'd live with it rather than worrying about any chemicals in my domestic water supply.

Neon, I was under the impression that the best water to draw for domestic use, wrt lowest plant and sediment content, was roughly 2' - 3' below the surface. If you have better info in that, please pass it on.

It is important to understand the initial conditions of your fish species to know what steps to take toward your management goal. Determining the size and condition (weight is even better) ranges that your Cats, bass, and BG are in via observation, angling, traps, seining, etc. is crucial.