Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Water chemistry A smelly water source.

Recently this winter I was out on the farm with a pond excavation contractor and we noticed a bad smell comming from an old underground county drain (1932 clay tile). The tile is broaken up for the most part and the water erupts in various locations durring mid winter and spring when the upstream wetland area gets flooded and the pressere builds up in the line. The smell is like sulfer dioxide or sewer smell? This is a concern as this water will be part of what will end up in my new pond.

The contractor said it was the smell that comes from rotting vegatation and suggested puting in a small shallow pond with a lot of cat tails and other plants just prior to the final discharge to the main pond. Has anyone else run into this problem?

Mike

Mike:

That approach sounds similar to using a very small pondlet, effectively a biofilter, where recirculating water reenters a micropond. That approach is discussed in the current issue of PBMag.

IIRC, there is also a forum member (identity ?) who was talking about using a marsh-like area as a bio-filter for the water entering his main pond.

Is there a way to detour this discharge around the pond? At a minimum, I would want to expose the smelly effluent to as much air as possible (wide trench, slow flow) before it entered the pond.

This isn't quite as sustainable as a wetland, but you could also direct this smelly water to a contact tank and diffuse ozone into it via aeration tubing before discharging into your pond. This will remove your odors and tannins, as well as add oxygen to your water.

Unless you enjoy a chronic problem, I'd tile that part of your watersupply clear around your pond. A wetland is likely going to comsume most of that water during the time of year you need it. The rest of the year, that source will simply bank your nutrient load for your pond to deal with later since metabolic rates of the wetland are low and flow rates are likely high. It is always advisable to run an chemical profile before any decision. It's cheap medicine.