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I have rain water harvesting pit which is 5 feet in depth.

During the June to October it has water for 3 feet.

November-January , it has water for 4 feet

and rest of the year it has water upto 1 to 1.5 feet.

I'm little worried about water that's stagnating here and what diseases or mosquitoes or insects it might produce.

Should I fill 2 feet with sand or coal or broken brick ? or Should I leave it as it is ?

FYI:

This is a clary area and ground water level goes up , when water starts flowing in river or it's raining.

Update:

Please find the photo of rain water harvesting pit. It's 2 feet circular cement ring well with open bottom

enter image description here

CuriousMan
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  • Do you actually need that much water? If not, switching to insect-excluding rain barrels might be worth considering. If you actually do need that much water I'm not sure. Your county agricultural extension office or equivalent might be able to give you specific advice for your area. – keshlam Apr 30 '23 at 03:05
  • Don't fill it with crushed rock or anythng else. This would reduce capacity and not inhibit mosquitoes. Do you see mosquito wigglers in the water? There is a legal treatment chemical that inhibits mosquitos from progressing beyond a certain stage of development. – Jim Stewart Apr 30 '23 at 16:38
  • @keshlam - Thanks for pointing out insect excluding rain barrels , I intend to use this rain water to recharge into the earth. – CuriousMan Apr 30 '23 at 18:28
  • @JimStewart - I see mosquito wigglers and sometimes tad poles , chemical treatment .. how do we integrate this with existing set up . I mean water collected from terrace directly goes into .. chain of cement ring wells.. so if one gets filled and it overflows into next one like that. – CuriousMan Apr 30 '23 at 18:31
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    @CuriousMan: OK, so this is just a swale, buffering runoff until it can soak in, rather than transferring it elsewhere for use? If so, then the best suggestion might be to replace it with a dry well, not open to the surface. No bug issues. – keshlam Apr 30 '23 at 19:28
  • Please find the updated the question – CuriousMan Apr 30 '23 at 21:37
  • Looking at that, I'd say replace the pit with a more serious (larger and covered) drywell. But someone probably has a better answer. – keshlam May 01 '23 at 00:10
  • What do you do with the water you are "harvesting"? – Jim Stewart May 01 '23 at 21:10
  • It just goes into the ground to recharge ground water – CuriousMan May 01 '23 at 21:32
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    I withdraw my suggestion of using a mosquito growth regulator. It might cause problems for other species or contaminate groundwater. – Jim Stewart May 01 '23 at 22:20

2 Answers2

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To solve insects, screening to exclude insects.

To solve "stagnation" either an aerator or a pump so it's not stagnant.

Ecnerwal
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    Turning it into a koi pond could also reduce insects; I don't know by how much. But I have friends that would warn you it's very hard to keep a koi pond from becoming a racoon feeder. – keshlam Apr 30 '23 at 16:18
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    Mosquito fish (Gambusia affinis) would be another approach probably less attractive to raccoons and still devastating to larvae. – Ecnerwal Apr 30 '23 at 16:30
  • I've updated my question with photo. This is how my rain water harvesting pit looks like. I don't think I can use this as koi pond or I can raise mosquito fish and also How am I gonna use aerator here. – CuriousMan Apr 30 '23 at 21:36
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    Aerator is trivial. An air pump wherever convenient, and drop an air hose with a weighted end (or a rigid air pipe) to the bottom. Should be relatively easy to screen the opening and keep insects out. – Ecnerwal May 01 '23 at 00:09
  • @Ecnerwal - Seems like an expensive option. I have total 4 (2 feet radius) ring well and 2 (3 feet radius) ring well – CuriousMan May 01 '23 at 21:35
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    Takes 1 air pump and hoses or pipes to 6 wells, then. If primarily concerned with insect breeding, all it takes is screening for 6 wells and don't get overly concerned with stagnation, which may be more in your own fears than in fact, given that the wells are open on the bottom. – Ecnerwal May 01 '23 at 23:49
  • yes it has open bottom. I'll try . When you say screening do you mean .. place a mosquito net right ? – CuriousMan May 02 '23 at 10:08
  • And chuck in some frogs – Rohit Gupta May 02 '23 at 15:08
  • @RohitGupta - man you are funny :) – CuriousMan May 10 '23 at 18:39
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Throw in some mosquito dunks periodically, as necessary.

Huesmann
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