permaculture

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

Aloha,

> But- adding a pipe through the dam can cost as much as the dam.

And what a deal it is nonetheless, especially long run, if one wants water
out any time easy and free...maintenance is cheaper on gravity than on
pumps & pipes too.  And it's easier to muck out an empty one than a full
one, I'd think.

> Doesn't adding flow dramatically improve the quantity & quality of
> life in an aquatic system?

No doubt, if it's poor to start with.  Re swimming, either you have really
bad pond luck or I have really good pond luck... :-)

> 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.

Makes sense - proportionally large shallow/transition ecotones, where more
bio-activity happens due to fuller sunlight penetration and more stuff
that can grow in shallow water (vs. less in deeper).  Now that you mention
it OAEC's pond may do well for this reason.  There's one steeper part of
shore with a dock float and human trampling, but most of the pond has a
fairly wide shallow margin with lotsa stuff growing and cleaning.

Pangaia's pond is simply carpeted with water hyacinth.  Looks swampy but
actually very clear and clean underneath the floating carpet.  It's got a
manufactured liner, though, whereas OAEC's doesn't.



John Schinnerer, MA
-------------------------
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Cultural & Ecological Designing
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