i recently bought a property with a 1/2 acre farm pond, which was of course
one of the strongest selling points. i havent' moved in yet, but upon
further inspection, i have some concerns about the pond.

first, the drainfield from the septic tank of the house has some major
problems...the inspector ran some dye through the system and with the
kitchen faucet running 30+ minutes, the water perks up out of the ground
from the drainfield. of course, the seller is responsible for fixing it,
but i'm concerned it may have leached into the pond over the yeas. the
standing water is about 30 yards from the pond but it appears to be moving
away from the pond.

i'm having the local well-servicing company run some tests on the pond
water for e. coli, fecal chlorophorm and i think plain old fecal...crap. i
realize there's lots of bacteria in a pond naturally and SOME
goose/duck/fish/frog crap, but what amounts of the above stuff are
considered natural? what amounts will be safe for the bass i plan on
stocking? what amounts are safe for swimming? if the sewage IS leaching
into the pond, how long will it take to dissipate after the septic system
is repaired? WILL it dissipate?

second, the pond already has some smatterings of algae and i'd bet that it
was frozen as recent as 3 weeks ago. isn't that awful quick for the algae
to start forming? i have not seen this pond in the summer, but i'm
concerned it's gonna be one huge algae slick.

third, i've also noticed that the pond is very shallow. it's probably
pretty old and has silted in. what kind of cost am i looking at to have it
redug if i decide to drain it?

whether or not i redig it, will i be able to establish any aquatic
vegetation like lilly pads, cattails, etc. for cover for the fish? can i
plant these in the pond bottom, or will i have to use pots?

there IS a stocked trout stream running through my property near the pond,
so if i have to refill, i could probably pump water out of that to fill the
pond.

any advice will be greatly appreciated!

thanks,
eddie

Eddie wrote in message
...
i recently bought a property with a 1/2 acre farm pond, which was of
course
one of the strongest selling points. i havent' moved in yet, but upon
further inspection, i have some concerns about the pond.

Your questions are very good ones, and probably cannot be answered
definitively without an on site inspection. My only contribution is to say
that the human strains of E.Coli are distinguishable from that of other
animals, and usually animal E.Coli are not toxic to humans (but human
strains can be). However, presence of E.Coli of any species suggests fecal
contamination and makes swimming, etc, aesthetically unpleasant.

Perhaps your local county agricultural agent can suggest a qualified pond
inspector.