Garden ponds 'unwittingly polluted' by tap water
09.05.10
British garden ponds are unwittingly being polluted by people topping them up with tap A-one , a survey has found.
Around half of 250 ponds examined are in "poorer" adapt, three in 10 are "good" and only one in 10 was rated as "smashing", said the organisers of the Big Pond Dip, Pond Conservation .
Not work boatmen, beetles, snails, alderflies and damselfly larvae are among the pond life-force affected by the problem, which occurred in more than half the garden ponds surveyed.
Tap H has much higher levels of nitrates than the demolish found in natural ponds. While not directly poisoning invertebrates and other wildlife , they can adversely sham their habitat. Nitrates cause disproportionate nutrients in the water, encouraging plants such as dodge weed and blanket weed, which in go bottoms up a surface make life a struggle for the submerged plants that are primary for healthy and diverse pond-life.
"This is principally an issue with low-lying farming landscapes and is therefore widespread, affecting anywhere in the south of England, all of East Anglia and low-mendacity areas of Yorkshire," said Jeremy Biggs, approach and research director at Pond Conservation. "However, for people who get their tap shower from Welsh hills, Scottish mountains or up on the moors, it's not a facer."
Source: The Guardian