08-23-2014, 09:25 AM
My pond was one of the ones tested and the UH & Dept of Health people were using it as the "best" benchmark. We were lucky that we had little debris go into it - like other ponds that got both lots of organic (fronds, leaves and coconuts) and non-organic (wood, plastics, pesticides, paint, etc). We just happened to be in the right spot - the debris backed up against bamboo on the back side of our yard and created a debris dam and only let water through. We had cut all our trees just two weeks before so there wasnt as much to drop.
Because I have a case of Hispanic Panic as my family calls it, we picked up everything ground level ahead of time so there was little to go into pond.
So anyway, the testing is good because all our ponds are so interconnected and what is in one ends up in all and the open ocean.
We noticed a greenish tint to ours a few days ago even though it had been clear. The anerobic effect is beginning with people who still have debris in their ponds and those ponds have a low oxygen level. We also contacted a professor friend who has worked with the Kapoho ponds through UH and she gave us detailed instructions to keep our pond healthy despite what the others are doing/not doing. Basically it is pretty simple - get any debris out of the pond. aerate the ponds, add correct water plants, and then continue to take organic debris out. Where we might let fronds/coconuts sit in the pond for a day or two before, now as soon as we see them fall we pull them out.
Because I have a case of Hispanic Panic as my family calls it, we picked up everything ground level ahead of time so there was little to go into pond.
So anyway, the testing is good because all our ponds are so interconnected and what is in one ends up in all and the open ocean.
We noticed a greenish tint to ours a few days ago even though it had been clear. The anerobic effect is beginning with people who still have debris in their ponds and those ponds have a low oxygen level. We also contacted a professor friend who has worked with the Kapoho ponds through UH and she gave us detailed instructions to keep our pond healthy despite what the others are doing/not doing. Basically it is pretty simple - get any debris out of the pond. aerate the ponds, add correct water plants, and then continue to take organic debris out. Where we might let fronds/coconuts sit in the pond for a day or two before, now as soon as we see them fall we pull them out.