Where's the Water?

Perhaps you have noticed that our pond and stream are not totally natural.

It's true. The system we have in place is designed to mimic a naturally occurring watershed but isn't one.

Hidden beneath the stones at the Northeast edge of the pond is a small pump that continually cycles the water from the pond uphill to the beginning of the stream. The water then flows downhill, over our waterfall, and back to the pond. During this process, water will be continually evaporating, just like it does from any natural waterway.

Just like any other waterway, rains will add to the flow of our stream. In our case, rain that falls in the Outdoor classroom will enter our pond, but the watershed also includes the roof of Kovler Gym. When rains falls on the roof, it is fed into our stream through the terra-cotta colored pipe near the water fall. In periods where there is no rainfall, we can also add water from the city water supply if needed throughout the small white pipe.

Water is tenacious, and will find any way that it can to travel downhill with the pull of gravity. Any small crack in the seal under the stream and pond will be exploited and expanded by water.

This week we do not expect a rain event, so we are running a test to be sure that no such leaks are occurring. In that time, the stream pump will be shut off to minimize the amount of evaporation so we can monitor the level in the pond more closely.

Once we are confident the pond is holding the water, the pump will be engaged again, and our stream will flow once more.