Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Creating habitat what should I do with major drought conditions

I've only been a pond owner for about a year now. Last year when we bought the place the we had 22" of rain in the first 6 weeks of owning it. Needless to say, the pond was full and looked great.

This summer in Kansas City is horrible, it has been hot to very hot and we are in a severe drought. The pond is down close to 3 feet now. The two coves are probably 20" at there deepest point.

My question is what should I do to help the pond and fish out both in the short and long term. We do have 1hp fountain on it for aeration and I would assume that leads to some evaporation as well. I feel like this is a time to take advantage of low water levels.

Being down that much, you may have a leak. If you have a well that produces enough water, you could pump some into the pond.

What's your soil? Enough clay?

Plenty of clay in the area, all the local ponds within 20+ miles seem to be in the same condition. We have not had but one rain over an inch this year, only had 5" total of snow all winter. No leaks to speak of it is just bone dry. The ground everywhere has large cracks in it. The fountain does shoot the water into the air about 20 feet and I am sure that causes some additional evaporation. However, I don't think it would be good to turn it off completely because of the oxygen levels. Fish seem to be fine, pond just looks very sad.

FYI we run the fountain from 7:15am to 10PM

If you're worried about evaporation and low DO, reverse your hours of operation. Run it from last light to about 10 am. Plants make oxygen during the day and use it up at night, so DO is lowest in the wee hours of the morning. Evaporation will also be lessened when it's cooler out.

I don't recall how big your pond is, but I can tell you that my house well pump puts out about 40 psi, about 5 GPM and will come very close or exceed the evaporation rate in my 1/4 acre pond. I have run my well pump for days testing it's capabilities, but do not run it regularly. I just wanted to know what it could do if need be and that I would not run out of water.

I second what bocomo suggests...very smart advise on running the fountain at night.

Low water levels are a good time to do maintenance on the drain system, and dock. Also a good time to add any structure that you think is needed. Any tree removal at the full pool shore line is easier without the water around them. Just some thoughts if you are felling froggy!

I’m a little west of you and praying for rain. Look at the pictures of the ponds in this article about the drought.
http://www.emporiagazette.com/latest_new...181d943800.html
I bet my pond lost a foot in June. 100 degree temps, strong south winds, and no rain will do that.

What I meant was is what have people done when they have had major drought on their ponds. Should I add fish structures? Gravel areas, etc? For the the days when the water rises again.

Is there things I should be doing to keep fish healthy throughout the drought?

The forecast right now is 5-7 days or 95-100 degrees and no rain.

Noel-great advice

I would consider replacing the fountain with a real aerator. Fountains are mostly ornamental and do very little of actually aerating a pond.

I understand your drought concerns. That is very normal in my area. We have long droughts broken by occasional floods.

2nd that! my pond is down about 12-18" due to no rain in the last two weeks and my creeks being blocked off - I can finally do some work to my outlet pipe!