Do you have a lot of cedars in the wetland? I owned some property over by South Haven on a small lake, and it was root beer. It came from the cedars in the watershed. The water quality was great, just brown.
No Cedars, but maybe some Tamaracks. I estimate about 12 acres of wetlands in a 40 acre watershed. The water drains from the wetlands via an an old underground 8" dia. clay tile to my small detention pond and then into my main pond. The drain line was put in in 1932 and is still a county drain but in very bad condition. Now goes under a wooded section of mostly Oaks before getting to the ponds.
As near as I can determine there shouldn't be any adverse effect on the pond aquatic ecosystem unless maybe an abundance of algae due to a high nutrient level. I have checked the PH and other chemical properties and don't see any problems. At least not yet.
I did experience an outbreak of suspended brown algae last summer but I understand that is not too uncommon for a new pond. I did not treat it for fear of killing off food (Algae) for my GSs. They, (GS Fry), seemed to do well in spite of the limited water clarity.
