Re: NANFA-- Outdoor pond using water from sump pump

Tom Watson (onefish2fish_at_attbi.com)
Thu, 6 Mar 2003 19:24:43 -0800

Is the neighborhood on true sewer service or are some of his neighbors on
septic systems? Also, are there either old septic systems or agricultural
runoff in the neighborhood? What grows grass may not grow fish.

If that is the case, he might build a reservoir that utilizes a lot of
plants (wetland environment) to cleanse the water prior to its use as
irrigation for his yard.

Another option would be to build a storm drain pond. We use them here to
collect runoff water and return it to the local aquifer. I suspect that
this is now common practice everywhere. The pond is dug below local hard
pan and not lined. The water flows in and soaks back into the water table.
many of these ponds develop great wetland vegetation but do not retain
standing water year round (defeats the purpose).

Of course in Washington we receive sky borne water replenishment on a
regular basis.

Tom
----- Original Message -----
From: "Sajjad Lateef" <sajjadlateef_at_yahoo.com>
To: <nanfa_at_aquaria.net>
Sent: Thursday, March 06, 2003 2:48 PM
Subject: NANFA-- Outdoor pond using water from sump pump

> Hi all,
>
> A friend at work has a peculiar problem. He lives in an
> area with lots of ground water. His sump pump runs every
> 10 minutes or so. During the winter, the water from the
> sump pump does two things - it puddles in the middle of
> lawn forming a patch of ice killing the grass or the
> pipes freeze leading to a danger of sump pump failure.
> His community does not allow dumping of the sump pump
> water into the sewer system.
>
> So, he would like to build a outdoor pond of some kind
> which will accept the water from the sump pump and
> provide some kind of retention system.
>
> The main concerns are if the sump pump water is bad for
> the fish and what is to be done if the pond overflows
> from the accumulated water. His lawn is watered by the
> sump discharge without harm, so it shouldn't be that bad
> quality water.
>
> Any comments on ideas to utilize the sump pump discharge?
>
> Thanks
> Sajjad
>
>
> =====
> --
> Sajjad Lateef
> sajjad_at_acm.org

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/ For more information about NANFA, visit our web page, http://www.nanfa.org