Phosphorus Pollution In Your Pond

 You must have definitely observed the increase in regulatory standards being placed on phosphorus-containing products such as detergents and fertilizers or the implementation of best management practices in regard to buffer zones, rain gardens and stormwater regulations. Do you think this attention to phosphorus pollution is warranted?

This blog is here for you to dive in and take a closer look at how phosphorus may impact your pond and when you need to go for ponds phosphate reduction treatments.

Sources

Phosphorus is a critical nutrient for all life, especially plants, animals and humans. The common sources of phosphorus include animal wastes, dead organic matter (such as leaves, grass and even fish food), fertilizer runoff (agriculture, golf course, lawn), and faulty septic systems. The concern is that phosphorus typically ends up and accumulates in our precious freshwater resources. The internal cycling of historically accumulated phosphorus may also be a significant, ongoing source of phosphorus loading that can have devastating impacts on your pond.

Impacts

Once present in aquatic systems, phosphorus can actually go from a key nutrient in plant and animal health to the culprit for negative water quality and algae blooms after which it becomes extremely important to go for one of the ponds water phosphate reduction treatments. Phosphorus is actually the common limiting nutrient for algae in freshwater (especially the bad types) and the primary component governing eutrophication (aging of ponds). Toxin and taste/odour producing cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) are dependent on phosphorus levels in order to become dominant in your pond. This is simply because they are relatively poor competitors for phosphorus in the water column and need large amounts of phosphorus for optimal growth.

But how do you know whether you have a phosphorus problem?

Well, taking a look at your watershed and characterizing inputs is one way, also just looking at how much muck you have built up or the amount and type of plant and algal growth you have may help indicate whether or not you have this problem.

Some other questions that you may ask are; is your pond water clear? Does our pond give off an odor at times? Have you happened to experience fish kills?

If your answer to these questions is a yes, then you definitely need treatment for the phosphorus in your pond.