Pond Management: Why is My Pond Filling Up?

I hear this question all the time when it comes to pond management and it’s a good question: Why is my pond filling up? Actually, your pond is designed to fill up. I used to work for a coal mining company and we would construct sediment ponds. They were designed to collect run off from the mine site and allow the sediments to settle out of the water before discharge into a stream or creek. Recently, I was fishing in a large pond, about 20 acres in size. The pond had a concrete dam which was about 30 feet high on the exposed side. You could actually take your fishing pole and touch the bottom of the pond just about the dam. This pond had 50 years to fill up!

When creeks are running at high velocity after a rain event, the fast moving water carries soil particles in suspension. The following picture shows fast moving water in a creek channel filled with soil particles.

The faster the water velocity, the larger particle size the water can move.

As the water enters a pond or impoundment, the water velocity slows down allowing the soil particles to settle out and they simply drift to the bottom. The following picture shows a distinct difference in the water color. The water entering the pond is full of soil particles (including red clay).

This is nothing to be alarmed about… the pond is just doing it’s job. The only thing you can do when it comes to pond management to alleviate the problem is build a series of smaller ponds (detention ponds), this allows the water entering the last and largest pond to be practically free of soil particles. Enjoy your pond… and get out and fish!!

Kent Morris, ALC, is a Registered Forester and Associate Broker who has experience in fields such as timber appraisals, harvesting, thinnings, and timber sales. He writes articles about these fields and more in his blog Land Blog…Get The Dirt!