Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Renovating a Pond or Lake? Huge fish loss this weekend, now do we re-build?

One of the secrets that results in clear water is to know how to keep the nutrients out or very low in the pond. Nutrients as fertilizer cause planktonic algae growth. Ungrassed or bare watershed or runoff from farm fields results in a lot of nutrients and organic stuff such as leaves and redidue getting into the pond. A watershed supplying the pond water usually results in more cloudy water with visibilities of 2'-3'.

Cecil's pond noted above gets most of the water from a well which has clear water and water clarity is usually high 3-6ft or more. The clearest, cleanest water to fill a pond and keep it full is only from rainfall or water from roofs. Both of my ponds have not watershed. They stay full with rainfall similar to amounts in IL and roof drainage water. We are in drought conditions and water is down 15" and my neighbor's pond is down 12". Average annual precipitation for IL is 36"-39" which is a lot of water to keep a pond full if the pond does not leak. Thus a well sealed pond should stay full each spring if it does not leak much water. Many NW Ohio dug and sealed ponds only go down a maximum of 14"-16" in a dry year so 30" of rainfall a year keep them full. More water loss than that indicates a lot of water seepage out of the basin.

If your pond is built in good heavy clay soil it can be rebuilt to hold water well and not need the current watershed to keep it full. If you rebuild the pond consider redesigning and building it with a very exprienced contractor and making it smaller and easier to manage for swimming and less for fishing. Talk to the Soil and Water about design for not having a watershed to keep it full. Using a watershed to keep a pond full suggests the pond is built with a leaky basin.