Thank you for your reply!
That is correct, that the water pipe is the only source. It's a 1.5" opening fed from a canal which is something like 11.8 gallons/minute, which works out to ~24,000 gallons/day. This runs constantly from mid April to mid October. You're absolutely right, there is definitely a considerable amount of loss through evaporation but we have never tried to figure out how much. I'll have to check the local pan rates. That is very helpful.
There are several very large(50'-100') pines and cedars directly on the berm and I'm sure they're are all tapped directly into the pond. There is also a walnut orchard flanking the pond with at least 30 cedars and various Christmas pines(old farm). There are trees everywhere though, at least 200 on the 5 acres. I was worried that when we dried the pond, we'd have a bunch of dead trees that would need to get cut down, but haven't had any die yet thankfully. Several large trees around the pond were cut by the previous owner and a few still actively grow new shoots. That's really interesting to think that these root systems could potentially be disturbing water to where it needs to go. After all it 8s irrigation water and that would be a very efficient delivery!
Thank you for the information on adding sodium, I'll have to research some and figure out if it would be something to consider for this situation. Definitely want to be good stewards and the pond is a valuable water source. In addition the ecologic aspects, wild fires are a constant threat and the pond provides an ideal source when the power fails and pumps stop working
It's great to get all this advice, thank you for reading and taking the time with yourinput.
Jesse
