News release

18 November 2005

Are you thinking about constructing a pond?

Not all ponds are created equal. Some are both interesting and attractive - while others can smell badly, have insect plagues, algal blooms, aquatic weed infestations and pest fish. To add to this, poorly sited and designed ponds can destroy habitat, degrade water quality and damage streams and wetlands.

So you’re thinking about a pond…is a new Guide put together by Greater Wellington with help from Boffa Miskell. It aims to help lifestyle-block owners, farmers, developers, duck enthusiasts and landscape architects overcome issues and problems they may face when constructing a pond. The Guide also gives advice on how to plan, design and maintain a healthy pond.

Melanie Dixon, Policy Advisor Greater Wellington says the Guide was written as a direct response to the growing popularity of artificial ponds as landscape features. ‘A number of ponds in the Wellington region have been badly designed, built in the wrong place, or poorly maintained. Many of these ponds then end up causing environmental problems and occasionally damage existing streams and wetlands.’

Melanie’s quick to point out the Guide’s not just for people who want to build a pond. If you already have a pond there’s advice to help make your pond more sustainable by improving its water quality and appearance.

The guidelines are available on Greater Wellington’s website: www.gw.govt.nz/wetlands. There are also a number of limited ‘hard copies’ available.

ENDS

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell: On The Skewed Media Coverage Of Gaza

Now that he’s back as Foreign Minister, maybe Winston Peters should start reading the MFAT website which is currently celebrating the 25th anniversary of how Kiwis alerted the rest of the world to the genocide in Rwanda. How times have changed ...

In 2023, the government is clutching its pearls because senior Labour MP Damien O’Connor has dared suggest that Gaza’s civilian population - already living under apartheid and subjected to sixteen years of an illegal embargo, and now being herded together and slaughtered indiscriminately amid the destruction of their homes, schools, mosques, and hospitals - are also victims of what amounts to genocide. More