permaculture

["John Schinnerer" <john@eco-living.net>]

Aloha,

>  I am interested in how
> clean can a 1/4 acre pond be kept with natural filtration. I don't see
> plants floating in the pond to be adequate.

Hmmm, I wonder how millions of them have been managing to stay clean and
healthy for millions of years, then, without pumps and pipes and
manufactured filters...or is this just a demonstration of the principle
"never apply just enough technology when too much will do?"

Ask Occidental Arts & Ecology Center, a permaculture site/teaching center
in Sonoma Co. CA ( http://oaec.org/ ).  They have a wonderful swimming and
wildlife pond.  It's also their water catchment pond.  Big, but not huge,
can't imagine it's much more than 1/4 - 1/3 acre surface area.  People
swim in it plenty (I have, it's a great pond :-).

No mechanical 'cleansing' systems, just plants (rushes, reeds, grasses)
and critters.  There is a pump to pull water up over the hump to the
downhill side of the outtake, but that's all it does (category one error
when the Farallones Institute folks built the thing back when - no
lockpipe).

Or ask any of thousands of people in pondy places like Minnesota, Vermont,
etc. who regularly swim (in season, of course ;-) in 'small' ponds that
magically stay clean just by being dynamically balanced ecosystems...



John Schinnerer, MA
-------------------------
- Eco-Living -
Cultural & Ecological Designing
People - Place - Learning - Integration
john@eco-living.net
http://eco-living.net