Keeping Your Runoff Clean
With the weather warming up, we’re all diving into spring yard work. As you tackle your outdoor tasks this spring, keep in mind that the runoff from spring rains will be carried directly to our lakes, streams, and wetlands via storm sewers.
Dissolved Oxygen: What It Is, Why It Matters
The term “dissolved oxygen” (or DO) refers to microscopic oxygen gas bubbles in water.
A Clear Look at Water Color
If you live in the Piedmont region of Georgia and long for your lake to have the perfect clarity of a clear mountain stream, you’re likely to be disappointed.
Rust in the Water
The sight of furry orange growth or rust-colored slime in a stream can be alarming, and might naturally lead you to suspect a contaminant or pollutant in the water.
Maintaining Detention & Retention Ponds
Whether it’s too much (coastal and flash flooding from hurricanes) or too little (the ongoing drought in Georgia), water is now the focus of more governmental attention and oversight than ever before.
Floating Fire Ants
While the recent rains are more than welcome, you may encounter a strange sight as your pond level rises: a floating ball of live fire ants.
Fecal Coliform: Why You May Need to Test for It
The presence of fecal coliform in a water body is an indicator of bacterial contamination from the feces of humans and other warm-blooded animals, including pets and wildlife. At low levels, fecal coliform poses no threat to healthy people who swim and play in the water; in fact, almost every lake is contaminated with at least at small amount of fecal coliform bacteria.
Don’t Let Your Drain Let You Down
The heart of every small pond or lake is its drainage system.
Looking on the Bright Side of Drought
With our region firmly in the grips of a historic drought, there are plenty of negatives on which we could dwell. But for pond owners, the low water levels caused by the drought present a great opportunity to catch up on much-needed pond maintenance.
Fighting Fill-In
By nature’s calendar, the life span of a lake is short.
