Since temperatures heated up towards the end of last month, the water level has gone down and down.
I was actually concerned that the pond liner may have received a puncture but I think it must be too soon after construction for that (fingers crossed). And as it has been raining a bit over the last twenty-four hours, a few drops have boosted the falling waterline.
However, not by much and I am loathe to top up the pond with tap water. Not only is this an expense and a drain on resources, tap water isn’t good for a pond. The chemicals in such a body of water will take days, if not weeks, to evaporate and in the meantime will no doubt harm micro-organisms in the water. (Here’s an interesting webpage about what you might find in your pond water viewed under the microscope: Protozoa and other pond micro-organisms.)
Still, as always, it is an interesting journey, observing a year in the life of a natural garden pond.
Hopefully as you say it is just evaporation from the surface of the pond. As long as there is smoe water the plants and organisms will be fine. Maybe it’s worth putting some water in a bucket ready to add, and leaving for a week just in case there isn’t enough rain.
The bucket idea is a good one. Thank you!
My new pond on one of the greenhouses had gone down a lot too. I did refill it with rainwater from the butts when I had plenty but now I need all I have for my plants. Hopefully we will get more rain soon and I can top it up again. Ideally I would have an overflow from the butts linked up to it but that would not help when the levels in everything are very low.
When you say ‘on one of the greenhouses’ do you mean the roof?
Let’s hope for rain to top up our ponds for us!
My pond is always less than full – I think a lot goes into the vegetation round about. I top with with water from the water butts. We’ve had no shortage of rain here this year
Does the water lap over the edges of the pond?
No but there’s a lot of vegetation (weeds) around the pond which draws all the water out I think. But it provides cover for the frogs so I don’t want to clear it away
Yes, I think vegetation is useful for wildlife.
Can you harvest some rainwater in a drum or tank to keep for the hot dry days for the pond? It will suffer a bit from evaporation over summer… Skyeent’s idea is also good – I have heard if you let tap water stand outside for a while, the chlorine evaporates or dissipates (or disappears magically 🙂 ) Not too sure about the other chemicals though…
I’m afraid there are no drainpipes on my property to collect rainwater. Hence the reliance on tap water.
One thing that occurs to me regarding keeping tap water in a bucket to let chemicals evaporate is that the water will evaporate, too.
I am hatching an idea for irrigation, which won’t add much water to the pond but will increase the likelihood of some extra getting to it.
I have a pond and used tarpaulin pond lining film in it. It is used for fish farming, rain harvesting or some times it uses as a water storage tank. Pond fill with rainwater. I recommended you used edge pond liner materials.
What are edge pond liner materials?