permaculture

[Rick Valley <bamboogrove@cmug.com>]

> From: "John Schinnerer" <john@eco-living.net>

> 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).
But- adding a pipe through the dam can cost as much as the dam. Siphoning is
a pretty good choice unless you've got multi acre feet of water.

> 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...
I've swum in many a muddy, mucky leech-ridden pond full of weeds in
Wisconsin, Michigan, BC, WA and OR! Good thing I ain't fussy. And while the
stuff makes good compost & mulch, mucking out a pond is big-time work.
Doesn't adding flow dramatically improve the quantity & quality of life in
an aquatic system?
The recent article on natural swimming pools in Permaculture mag surprised
me in that there weren't attached cascades and marshes with water getting
circulated thru; they relied on shallow margins of surface area as large as
the swimming area or more.
-Rick