It is possible to restore ponds. It has been done around the country and the world since the 1980s. Rather than the current focus of the DEP on septic systems, a guarantee of forever dead ponds and estuaries, we would be better stewards of our water resources if we focused on restoring ponds. When pond bottoms can once again grow meadows of pond grasses, the grasses will consume excess nitrates by the ton that human development has added to the watershed. A pond bottom dies when it becomes anaerobic, without oxygen. The byproducts of anaerobic decomposition of organic bottom sediment are hydrogen sulfide and methane gas; these poisons combined with the lack of oxygen kill beneficial aerobic bacteria, microbes and all the bottom life.

The only rule required for healthy water bodies is a mixed and oxygenated water column.

The two ways to restore pond health are dredging and oxygenation.

Dredging is the fastest, plus the organic sediment would be great to remediate soil for agricultural use. But getting through the permitting process is almost impossible, and when dredging is done it usually requires oxygenation to finish the cleaning process.

Oxygenation works great, although slower than dredging, by feeding the aerobic bacteria and microbes that consume the bottom sediment over time based on how much oxygenation is provided.

Fortunately, there is a newly-patented dissolved oxygen generator, a revolutionary turbine design that is probably the most significant water restoration tool invented in 50 years. The dissolved oxygen output, energy efficiency and maintenance-free simple design is amazing and should be investigated as a tool for pond and estuary restoration.

This turbine, properly utilized, has the potential to work with natural processes to provide measurable results in months, not the theoretical results for 50 years from now being peddled by the DEP’s current source reduction philosophy. It is time to enter the 21st century and demand results for our tax dollars and our environment.

To see the turbine go to Varacorp.com, Fraccure.com and search YouTube for the Toring Turbine. Google pond and lake restoration and you will find successful results on projects with inferior aerators.

Restoring our ponds and estuaries is possible by scaling up the technology, which is really just supplementing nature’s processes with loads of oxygen.

For those who want to learn about nitrates and where they come from go to http://nadp.isws.illinois.edu/lib/brochures/nitrogen.pdf, or search nitrogen in the Nations Rain.

For those who do not know, the original, natural, source of nitrate is lightning.

Donald Muckerheide
Oak Bluffs