Supporting guidance for Rural Sustainable Drainage Systems – Pond

This is an old version of the page

Date published: 8 December, 2017

Date superseded: 8 December, 2021

For recent changes to this guidance, please see the bottom of the page.

Ponds are permanent water features designed to hold run-off long enough for self-purification processes to clean up low levels of pollution.

Ponds can reduce pollution risk by slowing down run-off, allowing pollutants to filter or settle out and be taken up by plants and / or broken down in the soil.

In relation to steadings, ponds are useful for accepting and treating run-off from clean yard areas as part of a treatment train approach, where the pond accepts run-off from another feature such as a sediment trap and / or swale. They are not appropriate for accepting more polluted types of run-off such as slurry.

Ponds can also be used in-field to help manage soil erosion risks.

Using a combination of rural sustainable drainage systems will be more effective than individual measures – the treatment train approach.