I just completed a 1 acre pond that is starting to fill, it sat bone dry all summer long. Basically the ground water level must be high in order to get the runoff that i need keep the overflow pipe running I would like to trench in a pipe from my town dirt road to the pond The ditch from the town road runs if there is a quick summer rain or when the snow is melting my concern is...... the town uses a lot of road salt all winter long will all the road salt have a negative affect on the water quality.
ok if you view the lower portion of the picture you will see a road on the other side of the road is where my water shed is roughly 25 acres there is a 18" steel pipe under the road that runs when i get a lot of rain or if the ground water table is high all it takes is a 1/4' of rain for the pipe to run the dam is a horseshoe shape on the upper portion of the photo the deepest part is 10' Now if you look to the right you will see a narrow dirt road , that is where i would trench a pipe from.....I would also would like to dig across the road and grab that water runoff.
For a number of reasons, I don't think you will have a problem.
The real question is -- what are they using? Actually, most of the newer road ice melting compounds are far safer than what had been used 25 years ago. Many communities have moved to safer chemicals, like those based on beet juice and molasses.
But, I can only assume that even sodium chloride (rock salt) is going to be pretty diluted by the time it gets to your pond. You probably have at least a million gallons of water in your pond. You will get a lot of untreated water through that pond that isn't treated with ice melter.
Best of all, most freshwater fish can tolerate fairly high levels of salinity. In many cases, it is actually beneficial.
Hopefully, we'll have some real experts who will give more info.
Massive studies came back that road salts have been a major impact on water quality, over time, dependent on how much being used. The more the salt is used, where's there ponding over time, you have ground water contamination, on top of surface water quality impact. There are various new methods to reduce the total salt used for road purposes. There's a quick approach in utilizing crushed volcanic cinder to increase traction, while combining with small fraction of salt to reduce the concentrated icy on the roadway.
As catmandoo indicated, it's all about what salt compound is being used on your roadway, and at what concentrated level. The 2005 to 2011 studies of sodium and chloride total residual concentration have caused reduction of fertility in various freshwater species, as well as an alarming habitat degradation, where the springs, groundwaters, and surface waters pond/stagnate/merged. Underground hydrological concentrated plums will surface with substantial damage after the facts, creating costly issues for the watershed.
Leo
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Some freshwater fish can stand saltier conditions than most people realize. I catch several species of fresh water fish in brackish saltwater at Apalachicola. I know some lmb will even venture into saltwater bays for short periods of time.
I believe the town used a combination or rock salt and sand I will call and check into that
I live in Queens NY within walking walking distance to some of the best stripped bass fishing on the east coast its a nice thing except when hurricane Sandy brought that water into my living-room That being said i always wanted to have hybrid stripped bass in my pond so i guess that answers my question about the potential of slightly elevated levels of salt.
Fresh water fish enjoy .82% salinity (the salinity of fish blood) quite a lot! A 1 acre water shed would need a LOT of road salt to reach that concentration. Divert and enjoy is what I would do, although you may have "contamination" more from road trash than any salt.
Last edited by Rainman; 03/03/1310:57 PM. Reason: Thanks for the correction Cecil!
Try 0.8 or 0.9 percent. Saltwater is about 3 percent salinity.
Those pesky decimal points can get you into a heap of trouble Rex!
In aquaculture we refer to salt as the aspirin of aquaculture. I keep my recirculating tanks at about 0.2 percent (2 ppt, 2000 ppm) to keep stress down.
Last edited by Cecil Baird1; 03/01/1312:27 AM.
If pigs could fly bacon would be harder to come by and there would be a lot of damaged trees.
That being said i always wanted to have hybrid stripped bass in my pond
I would never have thought that someone in Queens would have a pond -- especially a one acre pond. When I've done work in that area, I can't even find a tree to pee on.
Hybrid striped bass should do very well in such a pond. Just establish a good feeding plan.
Some salt (.05 to .75 %)is good for the condition of most freshwater pond fish. It aids their slime coat.
There is a study on freshwater fish in Lake Pontchartrain ( very large brackish water lake at NOLA that empties into the Gulf)and LMB , BG, RES and more did very well. Salinity varies from negligible at the northern cusp west of Mandeville up to nearly half the salinity of seawater at its eastern bulge near Interstate 10 .05 to 4.1%. HSB do even better with higher salinity O to 25 ppt, and some can survive salinities up to full strength seawater(35 ppt)..
wow thanks for all the info catmando that's one of the funniest things someone has said about Queens The sad thing is......its true that's why i drive two hours north on the weekends
So i ran a 6" drainage pipe from the road 240' to the pond I was digging when the snow was melting so getting the grade correct was a cinch The next day there was a slight drizzle along with the snow melt the pipe was filling a 5 gallon bucket in 9 seconds im really pleased with my new found water supply
just wanted to share it with the board here are a few pictures
next i want to dig across the dirt town road and grab that runoff
Some salt (.05 to .75 %)is good for the condition of most freshwater pond fish. It aids their slime coat.
There is a study on freshwater fish in Lake Pontchartrain ( very large brackish water lake at NOLA that empties into the Gulf)and LMB , BG, RES and more did very well. Salinity varies from negligible at the northern cusp west of Mandeville up to nearly half the salinity of seawater at its eastern bulge near Interstate 10 .05 to 4.1%. HSB do even better with higher salinity O to 25 ppt, and some can survive salinities up to full strength seawater(35 ppt)..
It was funny to hear someone mention Lake Ponchartrain. I used to fish there on weekends in a jon boat when I used to live in New Orleans (late 70's) We never caught any of the fish that you mentioned. We mostly caught drum, croakers, lake trout and some (inedible) catfish. I've also been shrimping on the Lake (basin), in the nets were primarily shrimp and crabs with various small fish. It is a very unusual place to fish because you never knew what you would catch!
Most of the fresh water fish are near the river , creek , bayou inlets and away from the Gulf connection (Lake Borgne/The Rigolets and Chef Menteur Pass).
Hopefully it will fill up and you won't have any trouble with anything. The first time my bigger pond filled(14.6 in. of rain in 24 hrs.) it took out my dam but we redid it and the next hurricane filled it up again. Good luck.
Two ponds, 13 and 15 acres on the Mattaponi River.
2 to 3 inches over the course of two days I believe would be enough to fill the pot Probably closer to 3" What website are you using for forecasting I have been using the weather Channel
I'm driving around in the middle of Midtown New York City but my mind is on my pond upstate New York
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