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The original was posted on /r/permaculture by /u/CBDarlinger on 2023-09-09 23:51:26.
We’d both love to have a pond on our land. We have four acres and half are in a canyon. The other two are mostly level. The house is near the private road, so that leaves a large area behind the house or off on either side at the back for a pond.
The concern in Northern California is drought and mosquitos. I’m not sure how water is fed into a pond and maintained. Is it entirely from a garden hose, or are people tapping into springs? I know we have some evidence of a spring, and we do have a seasonal creek way down in the canyon, but is a pond really just a swimming pool situation, where you need to use a garden hose to keep it filled?
We can get mosquito eating fish for free from the county, but is it worth creating a breeding ground for them? The bats help, but we’re starting to see West Nile positive mosquitos here.
Rains would help fill the pond, so is that ultimately why people have them, to capture free rain and use it for irrigation? I don’t understand why people have ponds and would love to learn about this.
Thanks!
I live in the PNW and my friends pond needs constant topping up during the summer because of evaporation. It’s not even a pond it’s a water feature. He also has to put in mosquito killing bacteria into it. Given that it’s entirely decorative and we have water restrictions all summer he’s going to let the plants die and let it dry out.
Ponds are neat but why not do like… anything else?