Freeze Protection for a Settling Pond

A settling pond, also called a constructed wetland, retains water as it drains, controlling erosion and allowing suspended topsoil or other organic solids to settle to the bottom of the pond. Clean water runs out of the pond for further use. Specific construction details vary depending on whether the pond serves a factory, farm, sewage plant or neighborhood, but cold-weather ponds share some common traits. Keeping a settling pond from freezing is critical to its continued function.

Black landscape cloth or plastic
Shovels
Gravel
Perforated PVC pipe or garden hose
Hose and pump
Bulrush, other wetland plants

Instructions

- 1
  Let the snow pile up on your pond. The temperature of snow is 32 degrees Fahrenheit. It will insulate the water underneath from subfreezing air temperatures.
- 2
  
  Ice forms fast on open, still water.
  
  Maintain a flow of water through the pond. Although flow rate will slow, moving water freezes at a lower temperature, and sedimentation will continue.
- 3
  Line the pond -- or baffles, if they are present in the pond -- with black plastic or fabric to absorb radiant heat.
- 4
  Maintain a water depth of 3 feet or more above the sediment in the bottom of the pond. Deeper ponds function at least as effectively as shallower ponds. Although the surface of the pond may freeze, water movement below the ice will continue.
- 5
  Build settling ponds parallel to each other rather than in a series, and run water through the inner pond last. The side ponds will insulate the inner pond. If ponds empty, use them as dry ponds -- retention ponds for snow and other precipitation that will drain during winter thaws.
- 6
  Build a subsurface wetland -- a deep pond filled with gravel -- and cover its center with a black tarp. The snow can infiltrate around its edges as it melts.
- 7
  Lay a perforated pipe along the bottom of the pond down its center and pump air through it to aerate the pond. Avoid using heated air, which may encourage algae growth. Put your pump in the garage or a shed -- someplace where the air remains just above freezing.

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