Main Discussion Area > Primitive Skills

The Iowan Path

<< < (82/222) > >>

JW_Halverson:
Good job treating the symptoms, but missing the problem.  The problem is that your pond is eutrophic, or over fertile.  The weeds in the water are what are stripping the excessive nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus).  The water plants were what were putting oxygen back into the water.  Without them, oxygen is stripped by aerobic decomposition until the pond becomes hypoxic, and anaerobic decomp takes over. (Stinky stinky!)

Numerous water treatment plants are now using the duckweed as the nitrogen strippers in order to release clean water back into the environment.  The duckweed was helping. By skimming it almost daily and dumping the plants in a compost heap will help remove those nutrients from the water.  Same with aggressive harvest of any water weeds.  Think of the water borne plants as nitrogen and phosphorus sponges. 

By introducing plant eating fish, you simply add another step in a closed circle, i.e. the fish eat the weeds that are feeding on the nutrients and pooping out more nutrients for more weeds. 

There are two short term ways of fixing the pond; A) the old adage, "the solution to pollution is dilution", but maybe you don't have access to a lot of fresh water to add to the pond, or B) carbon sequestration de-nitrification, let the plants do the work and remove the plants on a regular basis.  The only long term solution is to reduce ag runoff, something not likely to happen in Iowa until the collapse of civilization as we know it.

iowabow:
Jw thanks for the input. As I stated in the post the influx of nutrients has been address two fold by placing the tillable ground that is part of the water shed in crp so the influx of new ag material has been stopped and now acts as a filter for that water shed.
Second I have started the process of removing trees that add to the current condition.
Third  the decision to remove the duckweed was to introduce light to the equation. The light will provide the energy to oxidize the nutrients.
Fouth Bacteria specific to breaking down these materials were introduced and are natural.
The issue is a stagnant ecosystem that can't break down the accumulation of material on the bottom. The duckweed is preventing the light from interacting with the rest of the system.
True that the duckweed if removed would help but including other parts of the equation I hope to bring a balance back to the system.
The water has to generate movement and that is not possible with duckweed covering the eco system and choking light out from the other players.
As stated the other plan is to introduce oxygen to facilitate the breakdown of material.

So yes I am treating the symptoms but I am also addressing the cause at the same time in an active and passive process.

iowabow:
Let me more clearly state that ~all of the high ground above the pond is in set aside and is a clean water filter with an additional catch pond/basin just to the east of the pond.

JW_Halverson:
The catchbasin above the pond will certainly help "pre-treat". 

Is there a foodplot crop that could be planted just above that margin as well to help strip the inflow?  That would give a double benefit, too.

iowabow:
Can't put a food plot on the crp but here is a Google Earth image of the water shed. Outside the line basically flows away. I will see if I can find a topo of the same to check the lines. Ant way you should be able to see the catch to the east. North is at the top as normal.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page