Causes and Remedies

Here is a rough sketch of my grandmother's property.

So what really caused the disaster and how do we remedy it?
Here are the notes from my sketch book. They're only ideas, they might not work.
Causes:

• Grass Clippings, falling plant debris, feces, and dead matter.
• Lots of Nutrients 
• Aquifer (main supplier of water to pond) is dead. This causes less water
• Too many water plants
• Too warm (winter wasn't cold enough to kill algae.

Remedies

• Desludge Pond - NO  Too expensive
• Stop Cutting Grass Near Pond- YES 
• Pick Up Grass Clippings - NO Too hard or Too expensive (lawn mowers charge more to pick up)
• Riparian Zone (natural barrier of mainly vegetation which blocks bad runoff. Also will take nutrients)- YES  Might Spread Though. Find Non- Spreading Plants.
• Algae Eating Fish- MAYBE Can get too big and you need to take them out. Also you need a license.
• Nutrient Eating Plants Near Where Septic Water Comes Out- YES
• Fountain in Middle of Pond (Aeration is a way to get DO and will disrupt algae)- MAYBE Expensive, Electricity, and Do you need to Clean it out?
• Sprays and Such Methods- MAYBE Might kill beneficial plants and animals. Not natural. If natural use.
• Dig Back Small Outlet- MAYBE May lower pond levels but would get rid of nutrients and algae. Maybe if dig it so it loops around but goes through Riparian Zone again.

Before I had the idea of a Riparian Zone, I had come up with all these ideas from computers that would be expensive, so it seemed like we could do nothing. I had felt bad and said that my first job leading a restoration project and I had failed. My grandmother said I hadn't. Some things you just can't save, but  you can help them. So even if you can't save something in your neighborhood, or where you live, you can slow it down. You might not be able to stop the rain forest from being cut down, but who knows? Even if you can't, you can launch a campaign. Even if you don't have lots of time use some of your free time to do something, because if you don't sooner or later you'll have to. We'll all have to. So why not start now. The Earth still has everything we need to live, even if it's not a super comfortable life. We should keep it that way.

My grandmother said one time the pond was in this same state and had oil on the surface. She said it wasn't as bad as the current situation but she said, when the pond seemed to be gone, it just came back. She says she feels that the spring is gone this time, but I don't know. I'll guess I'll just see.