Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Muddy water Muddy water after storm questions

We've had 2 strong cold fronts move through in the last 3 or 4 weeks here in North Louisiana. Both had large rain events that accompanied them. The first rain event was back in the middle of February and the 2nd was yesterday evening. Both events turned my pond from very pretty and clear to a nice diarrhea brown. The water usually clears up within a week or 2. I decided against starting my feeding program today because of the muddy water and strong wind still blowing. I "think" the reason for the muddy water is because there are some new houses that have been built uphill and upstream from my pond. There is some exposed red clay around the new houses that was obviously used for foundation work. I'm not going to gripe out my neighbors because I guess it's just part of the deal but would some square hay bales placed in the drain ditch leading into my pond help? Or would I be better off using something else.

How does the sudden water clarity change affect fish behavior?

This is a classic case of poor watershed management. Here in California (the land of enviro-nazi's) this type of behavior does not fly. Construction sites that have turbid water discharging off site are subject to heavy fines by the Regional Water Quality Control Board. But I digress.

Hay bales are good but I find that fiber rolls are even better and easier to place and manipulate. Is the ditch dirt or concrete?

At the very least I would donate or ask the neighbors to pay for some fiber rolls to place around the sites that are the source of the erosion/sedimentation problem. You could also cover these spots with a tarp or plastic.

If your neighbors are not cooperative, do what you can in your own watershed. Slow the water down as best as possible with hay bales, fiber rolls, or any energy dissipation device. Basically we want to slow the water down so that the sediment has time to drop out before it reaches your pond.

A good tool for anyone who has erosion/sedimentation problems in their watershed is the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation 2 (RUSLE2). Check out the link with the downloadable software. http://fargo.nserl.purdue.edu/rusle2_dataweb/RUSLE2_Index.htm

This software allows you to quantify how much soil loss or sedimentation will come off a given area. Then you can "plug in" best management practices (BMP's i.e. hay bales, fiber rolls, etc...) to see how much they will reduce the problem.

Ericdc,
You may be seeing the effects of the 1st big spring rains and the impact that has on organic loading in your part of the country. i am very familiar with the NE Texas and NW Louisiana water quality issues that comes from the 1st large springs rains. That part of the world has a lot of tanins and lignins from decaying leak material due to the heavy natural forestation you have. Combine that with a relatively mild winter with higher than typical decay rates, and you will have a big influx of color bodies as well as turbidity. We have been anticipating that impact on the river water in that part of the country this spring, and the negative effects it will have on water quality for industrial and minicipal water treatment. If you are seeing water with a dark tea colored stain rather than a red tinted turbid water, this is more likely an organics issue. You can get a sample in a jar and look to see if the water is translucent but stained, or is it cloudy and turbid (TSS rather than color) Another way to determione this is to add a mineral acid to the sample. Organics will coagulate and separate. You will need to drive the pH below 1.0 to accomplish this ( sample only; this is to test for what is causing the color and not to remediate the issue). If it is color, only time and dilution will clear up the problem. If it is color from organic decay, then you likely also have low pH from the organic acids. Adding lime will raise pH and act to clear the water some from the resulting pH rise.

As always, it is best to get a complete water analysis to determine the best path forward. My suggestions above are meant to get you some additional information to go along with the water analysis. Once you have an analysis completed (get samples from several locations and make a composite sample for best results), I will be glad to look over and give you my two cents worth. That may be all it is worth however.

In my opinion the water is turbid. It is cloudy rather than stained. In the shallow areas (2 feet or less) the water is clearer, especially around the banks. A few calm days will help drop the sediments out I think. We have had a good wind every day this week since the rains monday night. Maybe all the wind is keeping the sediments stirring and not settling.

Waterwizard, no offense, but I'm glad I'm not in California. They'd rather your house burn down than you manipulate the "underbrush" on your property to prevent disasters. I appreciate the advice on the fiber stuff and hay bales.

M Spinhirne, it could be organics as well, i'm not an expert and I haven't had my water analyzed yet.

Your preachin to the choir Eric. I love CA and I'm all for the environment but things get pretty weird over here sometimes.

You know the definition of an environmentalist?

Someone who doesn't want a house built there unless it's their own.

Wizard you nailed it. It's all about money. Look at Al Gore in his energy guzzling mansion and gulfstream, while he says we should lower our usage. Hypocrite! I don't mind people having mansions and stuff. I'm a pure capitolist, but when it comes to telling me how I should live my life, I don't want to hear it.

Dont get me started on al gore and his globle wormin .
I read a story this week on how much carbinminacide or diacide i get mixed up on that but i digress the plant life on this planet soaks up all but 35thousnd parts per million i beleave was the number so little that plants cant us it.this you will NOT see on the six oclock news

did you mean to say carbon monoxide and dioxide?

YES EVERYONE KNOWS I CANT SPELL BUT YA GET THE POINT

OK JUST WANTED TO MAKE SURE WE WERE ON THE SAME PAGE

On 2nd thought I think it's an organic matter deal. I got to looking today and it has all settled out in the shallow water. its not sediment.

Eric -
"Top soil" runoff will cause this problem, but if given a few days to a week without major disturbance will settle to the bottom. This is largely due to (like you mentioned) the higher organic content. Clay runoff on the other hand can cause a pond to remain cloudy basically indefinately. Clay tends to remain suspended.

We are on a sandy hill, and the water has cleared like you said with a few days to a week of settled weather.