So as part of ongoing work to improve the water quality on my highly euthrophic pond, I need to repair one of the silt catch ponds. I was happy to have them already built by the original owner, but as with many other things, they fell into disrepair over the years. The background is: 2.5 acre pond, ave 8-9 feet in center, 2 feet in longest 'finger'. The silt catch pond dam needing repair feeds into that long finger. It is fed by an Ag tile across the road, and has water flowing year round. I have not tested it yet, but very likely this water is high in nitrates from Ag run-off, varying seasonally. The catch pond is approx 30 x 50 feet and has two 4 inch PVC pipes running through it's dam. The pipe on the woods side has developed a leak around it, and is beginning to excavate around the pipe. No doubt it will breech the dam if left another season.
Question: When having the dam repaired, would one central flow pipe work equally as well as two? Is having the pipe be a stand pipe the best idea? Is the depth of the catch pond critical for particulate settling? Or for nitrate reduction? Do nitrates even come down in concentration by sitting in the catch pond before entering the big pond? I'm thinking this is a major source of this pond's water quality issues, and since I'm tackling it this season, I would love to hear back from the collective wisdom of the PB forum.
I did 'do my homework' and read through the archives looking for similar problems and solutions, but nothing quite answered my questions.
Thanks fellas!
3 inches of snow over night here in southeast Iowa. Yuck.
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