Texas Lake Solutions

Lakes and ponds on a nice piece of real estate are a real drawing card for buyers! Almost everyone is attracted to water. It is built in to human beings. Something inside us understands that water is life, and being close to it is somehow soothing and pleasant to us. Visions of quiet mornings or evenings on placid waters, and of family and friends at a fish fry, or fishing, or swimming, all play in our minds when we think of them.

Lakes need Management.

The problem is, that although achieving that vision is possible, it may take a substantial amount of work to get a lake or pond to that point, or to keep it there. Before you buy, you should consider the lake in your long term property management plan. A lot of people think that mowing a lawn, and occasional upkeep and minor repairs are all that is needed to manage property. This is not true. The place where it is the least true, is in aquatic management. Contrary to popular belief, ponds and lakes rarely “manage themselves,” in a way that will be pleasing to human beings and conducive to recreational use.

Determining cost for lake management.

At a bare minimum, you should plan on spending as much energy and money per acre of water per year as you would spend on acre of manicured landscape and lawn area. Probably a bit more. It is difficult to be perfectly accurate about exact costs due to variables, but this is a place to start.

For example: You pay your lawn care company $XXX.xx per week, per 1000 square feet of lawn and landscape care. Let’s say you do this for 32 weeks per year. So, of course, you multiply the per week cost per thousand square feet, by the number of weeks. It will probably surprise you a bit. Now, multiply that figure by the number of thousands of square feet of surface area on your pond or lake. One acre contains 43,560 square feet, so if your pond is one acre, that would be: Cost per year, per thousand square feet, multiplied by 43. This should give you a base figure for what your pond care might cost per year.

As I said, this is merely a place to start estimating. If you have serious weed problems, particularly, invasive exotic weeds, you can count on having added costs.

When you sit down to figure the budget for mortgage payments, and management costs, don’t forget to add this in. For a large body of water, the cost could be substantial, but the cost of not doing it can be worse! Indolence can allow weed infestations, pond scum problems, mosquito problems, vermin problems, and snakes.

We have seen several cases of folks who bought their dream home and property, only to have the dream turn to a nightmare because of maintenance costs!

Aside from the cost of the lake and pond management, there are also related costs. Upkeep for boat ramps, boat houses, and docks should be considered.

Some of the basic pond and lake needs:

Vegetation management:

• Weed control

Water Quality:

• pH

• Fertility

• Water clarity

• Watershed management

Structures:

• Dams

• Docks

• Boat ramps

• Boat houses

It is mid August, and in our part of Texas that means hundred plus temperatures, and straw colored hay meadows and pastures.

• Unfortunately, it also means that a lot of the aquatic weeds are beginning to harden off and become tougher to kill. It would be a good idea to get started on it now, before it gets much later. The longer you wait, the harder it will be to get rid of them, and the more it will cost!

• If you have a dock, a boathouse, or a or a boat ramp in need of repair, you might want to look at the water level now, and the long range weather forecast, and start planning that before the rain returns.

• If you have not already done so, it is the time of year to start thinking ahead about fall maintenance. If you are planning any major renovation work, you should be planning it now. If you want to lower your pond or lakes water level to dredge the edges, or get rid of aquatic weeds by redoing the bottom, it will take some planning, and coordination to get it done.

• If you haven’t had your pH level checked in a while, it would be good to get some idea of what it is, and start planning toward liming in the fall. If your impound is at the right pH in the spring, and you start your fertilizer program on time and follow up consistently, you will have a much better chance of preventing weed problems.

• You might also think about removing brush in the area, allowing for better access to the water and better water quality.

• If you plan to lower the fertility of an over fertilized body of water, you should be thinking of planting a good vegetative barrier at the end of the lake or pond where water enters, and around any area that provides watershed. bare areas should be made into grassy waterways.