Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Well water into pond?

We are in the midst of a drought in southern Illinois and our pond is our total water supply. Since our pond has lost about 3-4 feet of water, we are considering drilling a well near the pond to feed water into the pond when we get low.
The ground water in our area is generaly very hard---high in mineral content. Would this make our pond water hard or would mixing the hard water into the pond soften it? I know it would dilute it, but would the minerals "settle out" or combine chemically with the organics in the pond to render them harmless?
People using well water in this area often can't have icemakers or dishwashers as the small lines "lime up" so quickly, so this is an important issue for us.
Anyone out there with some information about or experience with this problem?
Thanks.

Rabbit:

You will undoubtedly hear from forum members much more experienced with water mineral content and feeding ponds from wells (Cecil Baird, for example, with his 24/7 well feeding his trout pond). If you have any way of estimating what minerals local well water contains and in what amounts, this info may be very useful to answer your question.

My main purpose for posting is to point out that it will take much greater amounts of water to top off or refill a pond than you would need for domestic water use. A well with this increased capacity may not be possible based on your ground water situation; if it is, it will cost more to set up (pump capacity, well depth, etc.) and will cost a lot more to operate.

You can't really answer the question of how much water a well will produce until you drill it and test pump, so I'd figure on doing a well and seeing if it would support just domestic use or have enough flow to fill the pond. Then size your electrical and plumbing gear to match the job the well will handle.

Also note that there are water softeners and iron filters available which can reduce almost any mineral level in well water down to what is desirable for domestic water use, including small lines. We use both of these, after physical (particulate) filters, on our house well, to reduce very high levels of (bacterial) iron. We joke and tell people that the hereford (red, white faced) cattle drinking our well water used to be charolais (all white).

Stand by for more and better info from others...

Rabbit,
I'm not getting a good picture of your situation.

Your pond is your total water supply? Do you mean domestic water for your house? What are you using the pond water for? Livestock? If so do they have access to the pond?

As Theo stated you can filter most unwanted minerals for domestic use. If the primary mineral is lime it shouldn't hurt but could help your pond. There are many variables but most ponds will benefit from lime.

Please give more info on your pond as Theo suggests such as size, location, any soil analysis? Clear water? Weeds? What are your goals for the pond other than a water source?

No you would certainly not make your water softer by adding hard water. Secondly hard water is not bad for most fish species. In some cases manually hatching certain species in a hatchery in very hard water can cause problems but that's not something you have to deal with.

Fish do better in hard water and they need some of those minerals for normal development. Unless you have some kind of harmful element in to large of quantities using a hard water well should be fine.

That said as Theo indicated you have to decide if the benefit is worth the cost. I run my well 24/7 at a cost of about $100.00 a month to raise trout. However I sell them for up to $80.00 a piece so I more than pay for the expense. My well and pump was $2000.00 which is cheaper than most.

cecil i'm jealous of the cost of your well. I have been wanting a well just to keep the water level at a more constant level but the cheapest bid I have gotten so far was 20 grand. I may have to go talk to some of my neighbors to see if they have wells and at what depth. The well drillers say in order to get good water you have to go somewhere around 600 feet. Maybe I can dig a well with a shovel. Ha!

Holy Cow 600 feet! My well is 88 feet and water starts at about 30 feet! We even have double aquifers in our area and hardly anyone is tapping into the second aquifer according to some geology info I have. But it still can vary depending on exactly where you are. We're blessed here and with some wells they say we have the potential of 2000 gpms. Now that's a lot of water!

When they say good water I have to wonder if the water they consider "bad" would be O.K. for you pond. Have to gone to a USGS site and seen what they say about your water well potential in your area?

I had one well driller quote me twice what the actual guy that did my well did. Maybe the price can vary?

I think in addition to varying from driller to driller, costs (with some drillers at least) vary seasonally (since so many wells in some locations are for new homes). When we had each of our two deep wells put in, we got the "cousin" price for letting our driller work in the off-season (Winter) and set his own schedule based on weather and deer/rabbit hunting. This was acceptable to us since the house well went in 2 years before the house and the barn well was replacing a functioning (though with limited capacity) shallow well.

So if anyone's not in an emergency situation, you might see if any drillers will give you a better rate for waiting until their slow period.

I know that the shallow water has a lot of iron in it but Bob Lusk said that should be o.k. for fish. I have not got a quote on a well just for the fish at a shallower depth. I'll have to talk to my boss about doing something like that next year. She said I was already over budget for this year and just doesn't understand how important it is being a pond boss.

James, the twenty grand sounds out of line. I recall quotes of $10 per ft. plus casing, pump, etc.

Bids a couple years ago for my neighbor were $10-15 a foot completed. If you do it make sure at your outlet yue have it set for it splash, on rocks, through screens or something to aerate it.

I agree with the $10 per foot...that's also true in our area.

What I don't understand is why a driller, at least in this area, seems to only drill wells for human consumption. I know good pond water is available at much shallower depths, but the guys around here won't put in a shallow well. I don't know if its because of the money...shallow is less money for the driller... or concern over drinkability or maybe even state laws. Any ideas?

Could be state laws. I think minimum depth for our wells in my area are 30 feet. Seems to me there should be an exemption for non drinking use.