10 Helpful Hints to Delegate your Retention Pond Maintenance

US Environmental Protection Agency: Vegetation management is probably the most frequent
maintenance activity that occurs in association with the upkeep of stormwater ponds and wetlands.

10 Have your lawn care company report erosion annually

Erosion is a top concern on biannual inspections. It creates sediment. To prevent erosion, ask your lawn maintenance company to report or re-turf all erosion and wash-out. Additionally, the mowers cutting grass around ponds should be responsible for minimizing erosion on steep embankments.

9 Use a Wildlife Service Company to Control Nusiance Animals

Muskrats are very common in Kansas. They appear as small beavers with rat tails. Muskrat burrows erode embankments. Less common than muskrats, beavers are highly destructive to trees, dams and pond foundations. Beavers may need to be discouraged or removed,which requires skilled animal control. Living Waters recommends your remove muskrat and beaver with wildlife service companies in the Wichita area such as Trutech.

Standard wildlife services are costly and ineffective with resident ducks and geese. Living Waters provides you with practical, long-lasting wildlife services for displacing resident waterfowl.

8 Aerate your turf soil in the Spring and Fall

The EPA suggests that grass is most hardy when maintained at 6-8 inches tall. This may be too high for you. Therefore, a tightly-knit lawn within 10 feet of the pond- grass must be maintained at an ideal minimum of 4-6 inches. Above all, never use fertilizers within ten feet of the pond. Instead, consider another option for lawn health. Living Waters will aerate your turf twice yearly in a 10-foot strip around the pond and on embankments. This will ensure proper root density and soil permeability. Your grass will better absorb chemicals in storm-water. As a result, your pond water will become more clear.

7 Remove Cattails in the Winter

Cattails and common reed grow over 5 feet tall. They also provide refuge for mosquitoes, and they are noxious and aggressive in many Kansas ponds. Living Waters has effective solutions to eliminate cattails from ponds. Living Waters knows how to remove cattails and common reed quickly and efficiently. We use low-cost and roundup-free eradication methods for your pond, with guaranteed results.

6 Inspect waterfalls, culverts and drains biannually

The City of Wichita mandates that all HOA pond-owners perform, file, and stay current on a bi-annual BMP inspection.  This Third-party report will inform you of ways to improve environmental safety and reduce liability. Living Waters Aquariums & Ponds will deliver you a field-report followed by a 31-point stormwater facility inspection & field-marked photo-documentation as well as maintenance guidance.  Our inspection report helps ensure the long-term proper operation of the stormwater management facilities.  We want you to know the safety issues and environmental hazards of your embankments, dams, pipes, and permanant structures.

If you need to fix clogged drain culverts or spillways, call Living Waters Aquariums and Ponds.

5 Remove pond scum and algae with an aerator

Diffused aeration improves the healthy appearance of your pond overnight. We recommend air-bubblers for all ponds larger than 1/4 acre. Better yet, if your pond is deep, its easier to aerate. Round ponds are also easy to aerate. If your pond is deep and round, diffused aeration is extremely affordable and sustainable!

The EPA and Kansas Dept of Wildlife Parks & Tourism both recommend aeration in ponds as the #1 way to improve pond water health. Living Waters Aquariums & Ponds sales & installs Aerators for Wichita & South-Central Kansas.

 

4 Remove water weeds with tilapia fish

Living Waters Aquariums & Ponds has 20 years experience with Aquatic Vegetation Control. In many cases you need grass carp. More often, you need tilapia fish to eliminate nusiance water-plants and algaes quickly. Tilapia never cloudy water. Nor do tilapia stir up the bottom of your pond. Adolescent grass carp are known to decrease pond water clarity. When your grass carp get slow and lazy, you still get quick benefits with tilapia. Trust Living Waters Aquariums & Ponds to know what animals and pond weed killer are right for your overgrowth removal. We eliminate aquatic plants, pond scum, moss, and algae.

3 Have your retention pond maintenance spray weeds along the riprap but not wildflowers, primroses & purslanes

Proper water quality reduces vegetation management costs and improves the health and safety of your pond. We advise that you eliminate bulrush, willow trees, reed canary grass and 98% of other tall weeds and shrubs. However, we recommend you spare the hypo-allergenic helper plants when removing weeds. Two of these plants are frogfruit and stiff greenthread. These diminutive flowering groundcovers will filter your water and soil. Hence you will have less green water and less pond scum. Popular fish will thrive. We offer free estimates on these comprehensive services to improve water quality. Living Waters Aquariums & Ponds will achieve dramatic visual results, confirmed by water sample testing records.

2 Consult Stormwater Officials before pumping water out of a pond

Do you know how to make a pond hold water? Your pond is connected to the natural creeks and ditches that flow through our city. These waterways guide the rainfall that refreshes our environment. During heavy rainfall, this stormwater is dangerous. It causes erosion. It settles foundations and causes cracks. Retention ponds and other BMP structures reduce damage caused by stormwater. Have you seen the destructive force of a burst dam? Because the Midwest and Great Plains does not have steep elevations, we don’t worry about flooding downstream subdivisions. However, Midwest storms will easily resettle drainage pipes and wash-out BMP structures. Before you alter a dam or drain a pond, consult Sedgwick County Stormwater Management.

1 Bundle your services with a Retention Pond Manager

Beautiful retention ponds are not particularly difficult to manage. They simply require the observance of safety laws and the practical application of the EPA NPDES regulations.  Therefore, the control of algae and waterplants is probably the most frequent maintenance activity that occurs in association with the upkeep of retention & detention ponds. Otherwise, long-term costs are determined from biannual inspections on your BMP structures- erosion, runoff, and pollution all have early warning signs. The faster a retention pond manager can repair your BMP structures, the more quickly your pond will mature and beautify with clear water.