Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Renovating a Pond or Lake? Get EPA or Corps of Engineers involved?

Hi. I have a very old pond. I have been fighting algae and duckweed and fish kills since I purchased this property 7 years ago.

I have come to believe that its a battle that cant be won since the pond is fed by a road drain that comes under the road and directly into the pond. On the other side of the road is a cow farm so I am getting all his manure runnoff straight into the pond.

I was thinking of calling some type of government agency for help with this issue. Possibly they could re-route the drain (Would take a large amount of work). Or they could put a filter of some kind on it. I fear getting any government agency involved with this because I have no clue of the outcome.

Any one have any ideas? Or have experience with something like this?

If you get them involved you might end up filling in your pond at worst, or not allowed to do anything, at best.

I would avoid gov't agency.

HAve you tried pond dye?

How big is your pond?

If you prefer not chemically treating the problems yourself, before getting government involved I would first contact a pond management company in your area and if at all possible have them come out and assess your specific situation. In my experience most of the pond management companies will come out for the initial consultation for free.

There is no way I would ever involve the govt. It has never gone well for me or anyone I know.

Ok I think will take everyone's advice and not go that route.

Answers to some questions and history.

Pond is 1 acre in size

Yes I have tried dye. I have already died it three times this year. I have home built aerator that does not seem to effect anything other than possibly help keep the fish alive.
I have only used the blue die in the past. I may try the black dye next.

I was able to wipe out the duck weed in past years with expensive fluridone treatments but the filamentous algae grows so fast and so thick that its impossible to control with chemicals so far (covers the whole pond in a week or so). We have manually cleared it with kids swimming across with a rope and dragging it to one side and then used a floating rake to pull it out. This is a huge amount of work and it grows back fast.

Have you talked to the neighbor? Maybe he would allow you to put in a small sediment pond on his side to contain most of the manure.

and add as many plants as possible to that sediment/catchment pond

Floating islands might prove useful. They are designed for situations such as this.

I would be polite to the neighbor and offer to pay for any improvements, if needed, on their property that would improve your pond situation. After all, the pond existed when you purchased the property. I'm assuming it existed in its present condition and there were no changes by the neighbor since then.

Pilots see a similar situation all the time. People buy homes knowing an airport is nearby. But after a few years, they start complaining of noise and demanding the airport be shut down.

Only reason I would contact the government is if you thought your neighbor was doing something illegal because of the manure runoff.

That would be a good way to make an enemy of your neighbor though.

Can you divert the water coming under the road away from your pond?

What kind and how large of cattle farm is it?

manure and run off. that can be a large issue. use to have nightmare neighbor/farmer. and would allow manure to physically get so bad, that it would create its own "creak of manure" that would run across his property into ditches and into creeks.

contact your local state agriculture department. "ron settles" from ag department, dealt a lot with here in Illinois over the years with the nightmare neighbor/farmer. if you can show that the water quality is out of specifications / past what is allowed by law. and/or manure handling is not properly being dealt with. the local ag department should be able to help clear the issues up, and will take water samples and like. to point of fining person, to other court resolutions.

many times not having say gutters, down spots, making sure rain water does not mix in with the manure and cause bigger mess can be resolved easily, other times collection area for manure is not taken care of so all run off water from rain also goes into the area causing larger mess.

BUT, for your own damage, fish kills and like. you would most likely need to sue the person to get anything back. you can not force another person to do something, but get cash to fix issues on your side, and damages you may have incurred.

=============
look at aeration systems. it is not the small little misty bubbles that are important, or water shooting up from your pond in a fountain. but rather the "water current" throughout your pond. generally a large vortex current (swirling around) pond can help bring more water to the surface of the pond were more gas exchange can happen.

granted some aeration systems do provide more of a donuts shape water current. were air stones being the center. but most folks ponds/lakes are shallow compared to surface area of there ponds/lakes. and being able to create a larger swirling / vortex / whirl pool like water current more likely more beneficial to to them.

this can be done with "air lifts", DIY style fairly easily. it is just learning curve of how to build an air lift bank, and then physical cost of pump and plumbing pieces, and then the air line put in between pump and air lifts.

aeration systems, help off gas and bring in dissolved oxygen into the water. this can help promote more bacteria to break down fish waste and decaying vegetation. and help reduce food sources for annoying vegetation. also helps get more oxygen to the fish.

=============
if you can not deal with issues from cattle farm at the source and water coming from them passes the laws/regulations.

aeration system is first choice possibly for me. but perhaps building a smaller pond and turning it more into a filter pond. were you can physically treat the water before coming into your pond. this could be dwell time (how long it takes water to flow through the filter pond), to aeration, to promoting water vegetation growth to help act like filtration media to help clean the water to other.

=============
google your address and then click up on maps, click on the "satellite/earth" icon to switch from roads to greenry. and you can get a better view of things.

=============
most water vegetation only grows from 4 feet or shallower waters. (sun light not able to penetrate any deeper than approx 4 feet deep)

if you walk out into pond to go swimming, and sinking up to your knees in black smelly dirt. you have a large food source for vegitation. aeration system more likely help reduce the depth (thickness layer) of the black dirt under the water.