Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Water chemistry Using your pond water

I have a one acre pond in central Ohio. I recently built a barn near the pond and I do not have a well or other water at the site. I plan on storing rain water, but was wondering if anyone has used pond water as a source of usable water to wash equipment, flush toilets etc.? Is it possible to make the water drinkable? Just looking at options right now for my situation. Thanks so much

Definitely. One of my customers uses his pond as his only source of water. Don't know what type of filtration/purification system he has installed, but I know it's been that way for a long time.

Thanks. I would be very interested in getting more information about his system.

When we first purchased our property the only source of water that we used was the pond.

We built a water purification system that is series of three canister filters. The first canister being a pleated sediment filter, the second canister is an activated carbon filter and the third is a UV water sterilizer. We then add water sterilization tablets.

IMHO though prior to any use though I would get the pond water tested.

Many homeowners in NW OH use pondwater for domestic use including drinking and approved by the county health dept. They use pondwater because the well water contains strong sulphur. There are various ways to filter and purify the pond water. Obviously the cleaner and clearer the water in the pond the easier and cheaper it is to clean up for use. Some that do not drink it, just do some preliminary filtering and use it for all other in house uses.

So how do I proceed? Are there companies that I could contact?

First contact the county health department and do some homework on the topic and find out what their policy is. At this point you may or may not want to tell them your name and address. Then proceed based on what they tell you. IMO A lot will depend on if you plan on using the water for drinking or just toilets and wash water. OH usually suggests and only allows a floating intake filter for water withdrawal. This coarse filtered water then is normally disinfected with chlorine, UV light, iodine or hydrogen peroxide in a "kill tank". Different counties require treated water to sit in a minimum sized kill tank for an effective kill time. Water is then passed through one to several filters to remove solids. Water then sits in a holding tank until needed as determined by a water pressure switch. Water especially for drinking can be further filtered (under the sink filter) by various techniques to remove flavors and/or dissolved substances.

Installation can be by private individual or by small water treatment companies. Look for water treatment in the yellow pages. Cost will be based on size of system and number of filters. The better complete package systems can cost $5000-$12,000 - maybe more. When you have all this done the health depth will want testing to verify effectiveness of the treatment system. Homeowner is liable if someone gets sick drinking contaminated water from the house. Installing the water intake filter and line in the pond after it is built can be more involved. Usually the intake line is installed when the pond is built. Installing after the fact is best done if the pond water is drawn down 5-6 ft and the intake water line then installed. Make sure when this is done that two antiseep collars are installed on the intake line and bentonite is used when the trench containing the water line is refilled and compacted by layers as bentonite is mixed into the fill clay/dirt. If not done properly water will seep out of the pond along the waterline toward the house.

Thanks Bill. I appreciate all of your information.