Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Water chemistry Using your pond water

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.