We swim in our pond. Our kids are 2 and 7 and we keep a close eye on them. I do not let the 2 year old in unless I am in the water with her. The eldest wears a life vest unless I am in the water with her, too. We have lots of springs that keeps our pond filled and chilled throughout the summer. We are very fortunate to have such a good swimming hole. Other ponds I help take care of are not so appealing for a quick dip. Ours is a perfect balance of fish/play (maybe more on the side of play.)
We do have livestock (2 horses) that drink and cool down in the pond, but the BOW is 2 acres and I have never had any test results show me that the 2 equines are doing anything determintal to overall pond water quality. The run off from their poop is not much of a concern since the horses have 15 acres or so to use as their toilet.
