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

Todd Crail (farmertodd_at_buckeye-express.com)
Fri, 7 Mar 2003 09:02:31 -0500

Yeah. How important is a lawn to this guy Sajjad? Are there "weed laws" in
the city? Does he like to garden? If so, he could do a modification of
this, with wet prairie plants around it (sound like he's on a former wetland
anyway)

http://www.farmertodd.com/misc/House/garden/

Within, you'll see the wet prairie projects I put together. He could dig
down where it normally puddles and make a grade so that the "pond" portion
is tarpped, but much lower than the surrounding ground, so that it maintains
a set depth of water where he wants it (and makes for a great mudminner and
topminner hatchery! :). Then in the soils around, which will be saturated,
the pond will rise and fall based on ground water but always maintain a
certain depth in the pond.... And there's a ton of beautiful native plants
that live in these conditions naturally (superwet to superdry to superwet
etc). He probably has seed source right down the road ;)

There's a couple native plant nurseries in the Chicago area, and a ton up
the way in Wisconsin. These people will be the best to get into contact
with for advice and expertise if this sounds like something he'd want to do.

http://www.for-wild.com/chapters.htm#Illinois
http://www.for-wild.com/

----- Original Message -----
From: "Tom Watson" <onefish2fish_at_attbi.com>
To: <nanfa_at_aquaria.net>
Sent: Thursday, March 06, 2003 10:24 PM
Subject: Re: NANFA-- Outdoor pond using water from sump pump

> 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
> --
> > /"Unless stated otherwise, comments made on this list do not necessarily
> > / reflect the beliefs or goals of the North American Native Fishes
> > / Association"
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> http://www.nanfa.org

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> /"Unless stated otherwise, comments made on this list do not necessarily
> / reflect the beliefs or goals of the North American Native Fishes
> / Association"
> / This is the discussion list of the North American Native Fishes
Association
> / nanfa_at_aquaria.net. To subscribe, unsubscribe, or get help, send the word
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> / For more information about NANFA, visit our web page,
http://www.nanfa.org
/-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
/"Unless stated otherwise, comments made on this list do not necessarily
/ reflect the beliefs or goals of the North American Native Fishes
/ Association"
/ This is the discussion list of the North American Native Fishes Association
/ nanfa_at_aquaria.net. To subscribe, unsubscribe, or get help, send the word
/ subscribe, unsubscribe, or help in the body (not subject) of an email to
/ nanfa-request_at_aquaria.net. For a digest version, send the command to
/ nanfa-digest-request_at_aquaria.net instead.
/ For more information about NANFA, visit our web page, http://www.nanfa.org