Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Creating habitat pressure treated wood

I just came across someone getting rid of some old telephone poles. I'm pretty sure most of them have been treated with creosote which I don't think is something that I want in my pond, however a few look to be just regular pressure treated wood. This had me thinking of another question which is; Is it bad to have too many pressure treated pieces of wood in my pond? My plan is to have around 200 or so posts to simulate a submerged forest going down the center of my pond. I have been targeting cedar trees for this but I haven't been able to find a cheap source for them yet and I'm coming across more and more people with old unused pressure treated posts that are now just looking to get rid of them. Before I start snatching these up I wanted to know if I should be concerned about putting too many of them in my pond. My pond will only be rain water fed, so this won't have constant fresh water cycling in. I'm in central Texas so we are either in an abundance of water or complete lack of it. Arsenic was banned in the use of pressure treated wood back in 2004, so I would only be targeting wood that is younger than this to prevent getting arsenic treated wood. I wanted to get y'all's thoughts on this as my family will definitely be eating the fish out of this pond.

No expert advice from me.

However, I believe all of the old ocean piers I have walked upon on either coast look like they were built with creosote marine pilings. People catch and eat the fish from right under the pilings (but that is open ocean water)!

For most chemicals it is the dose that makes the poison.

I think most of the creosote for old telephone poles was made from coal tar. I don't think that stuff is very soluble in water. I doubt you could get a detectable amount into your fish?

I believe CCA wood is still being sold. (Chromated copper arsenic) So there might be small amounts of copper and arsenic being released into your pond water?

However, I believe most of the algaecides are copper based, AND they can be used in potable water sources. I would think(?) the amount of copper from that treatment type would be more than the copper released from your wood. However, copper can be incorporated into so many different chemical compounds, that I have no clue as to which would bind to something in the water column and become "inactive", and which might stay active?

I know my 2 cents worth above isn't even worth that much money. Just throwing out some ideas that might get you wiser comments below.

Too bad you aren't up here. For some reason, I have had quite the die-off of cedars, and they need to be cut.

I have mostly oaks but quite a few cedars. I don’t remember but one, out of many hundreds, ever dieing.

For a dock, I wouldn't worry a bit about using treated lumber. For the type of project you are talking, I would stay away from them in a pond where I wanted to eat fish. In my opinion, creosote and copper napthenate aren't overly concerning from a health standpoint, but there is a 3rd chemical that is commonly used in treatment of industrial wood products called Penta (I don't know if that's the actual name). Apparently, that stuff is extremely toxic and has been banned from use in many countries but is still fairly common in the US. In a fairly low dose, I probably still wouldn't worry about it due to dilution, but a project like you're describing could potentially introduce a huge amount of that into your pond and likely be hazardous to your fish or yourself.

Penta was banned by EPA in 2015 according to Google AI search. 10 yoa lumber exposed o elements, my swag, probably a lot of the chemicals have leached out ( using 2015 date ) . My understanding , may be completely off base , no expert , is that so called pressure treated , isn't truly "pressure treated " but only soaked in the preserving chemicals , allowing the chemicals to leach away fairly easily.
Take all my comments for what their worth , a little less than 1/2 what you paid for them .

I got out of a related industry in 2016 so I checked the EPA site for current status. Below is from the EPA website:

Use of PCP is being phased out over five years beginning in 2022. Until February 29, 2024, registrants may continue to produce, sell, and distribute wood preservatives containing PCP while wood treatment facilities transition from PCP to alternatives. After that time, wood treatment facilities will be allowed to use their existing stocks of PCP to produce treated wood until February 28, 2027.

Stand, sit, and crouched corrected , worth almost 1/2 what you paid for it. Thank you very much for further info Imoore.