Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations when does a pond becoem a lake?

I hear people talk about 10 acre lakes, 10 acre ponds, etc...

What makes a lake a lake and a pond a pond, is it depth, area, etc?

Just curious

I don't know but when I lived in New England everything was a pond. There was a reservoir there of 25,000 acres and many of the locals referred to it as Quabbin Pond. Yeah right!

I think this may be one of those subjective things. To me the cutoff is about 25 acres but that's just me.

I wish I knew...because if I knew I would do everything to get out of the pond status and join the lake status...Make lake / pond is NEVER big enough!!

I am told smaller than 5 acres is a pond..

If it belongs to you it is a lake, if it belongs to someone else it is a pond!

Bob

But Bob, what if your buddys pond is bigger than yours..

What do you do then? You have to find some way to make yours bigger...

After reading how big some of the guys "ponds" are, I am embarressed to call my 65 year old 2 1/2 acre ex-cattle-watering-hole a pond. Therefore, I now call it a very large, perhaps even a huge "water garden". I think I will go hang out at the water garden center area at Lowes and brag about the size of mine. Perhaps I should put a small frog fountain on the pier, solar powered, yeah...

The farm ponds around Texas have always been called "tanks," but that gives the wrong visual impression to city-dwellers or folks from other areas (I think?)

Some not-very-illuminating info from EPA:

The main difference between lakes and ponds is size. Lakes are deeper and larger bodies of water that can influence local climate if large enough. Ponds are much smaller than lakes and usually have the same temperature from top to bottom, whereas lakes can have dramatically different temperatures from the surface to the bottom waters. Also, rather than affecting local climate, ponds are usually greatly affected by local conditions.
http://www.epa.gov/bioindicators/aquatic/lake-r.html

Differing temperatures? I guess if you can't throw a rock across it and you want to call it a lake, it's a lake.

All others are ponds. The hole I pour work, time and money is a lake.

Martin,
This is the best Deffanition I have herd so far for a lake and a pond...it makes good sense
thanks

Around here we usually call anything over 10 acres a lake.

Here is a limnology definition as well as I can remeber it...

A lake must be deep enough to thermaly stratify, and/or over 3 meters. If it does not thermaly stratify then it is a pond.

There are "great ponds" that are hundreds or thousands of acres but only 8 feet deep.

I think governments may define lakes and ponds by size for simplicity. In minnesota a lake is a pond of water over 10 acres.

In Michigan, the State considers anything 5-acres or more a lake and regulated under the old Inland lakes and Stream Act (now Part 301 of Act 451). If you construct a 5-acre lake, you must be permitted under the act.

Its all as clear as Algae? now!!

Do you want a lot more discussion on this topic? see

http://www.pondboss.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=20;t=001252

I personally use a practical approach. If the water body is used primarily for fishing, it is a lake. If it is used primarily for ornamental or landscaping purposes, it is a pond.

Hmmm, a lake is a large body of water that has permanent inflows, outflows...part of a network of freshwater habitats.

A pond can be any size of water that is normally isolated within its own catchment area

Howzat.

Regards, andy
http://www.members.aol.com/abdavisnc/swglist.html

According to my realtor, if it's under an acre it's a pond, over an acre it's a lake. I've never heard them called "tanks" in East Texas, but just about anyplace else in the state, it's the common term.

I also read a defination that only god made lakes, man made ponds and resivoirs.

I spent the day at Scioto Trails State Park here in Ohio. It has two 15 acre "lakes," one of which I spent a lot of time inspecting and a little time fishing (rain/snow and too damn cold).

The earthen dam is about 40 feet high and about 200 yards wide. The concrete spillway is probably 75 feet wide, leading into a 10' square drain tunnel under the dam. Interestingly, there is no secondary spillway. I guess ODNR should be pretty good at calculating max runoff and how much dam height they need above the spillway to handle a big flood.

This is the first "big" dam I have spent any time looking at since I got into pond management. I now have any opinion on whether a body of water this size is a pond or a lake: If you spend the money it takes to move that much dirt, you can call it anything you want.

If you want to use the inflow, outflow definition of a lake, the Great Salt Lake in Utah should really be called the Great Salt Pond since it has no outlet.

Up this way we figure that if it is natural, its a lake, if it is made by man or beavers its a pond.If you have lake frontage your taxes go up,so we love those beavers!