More pictures showing what good my sediment pond does in keeping out stuff from the adjacent agricultural field. I had just disc the field the night before the recent 1.5" rain. You can see the muddy water in the pre-sediment pond, then still turbid but much less in the sediment pond, then the much clearer water in the main pond.
Adding the sediment ponds has been very beneficial in keeping excess sediment and nutrients out of my main 3 acre pond.