Diving in a typical neighborhood lake/pond

[ShallowDiverDave]

I'm looking for information on how safe it would be to dive your typical neighborhood lake or pond? Basically, would the water be safe to swim in? Would the levels of "whatever" be comparable to a quarry or large public lake anyway?

thanks!

 

[erparamedic]

I asked this question a long time ago... as my diving was going to be part of the pond clean up.

Essentially, Rod and I decided NOT to do it due to several hazards- fishing line (entanglement issues), appliances and carpet rolls on the bottom (among other things.... we know this from rescue divers that pulled a little boy out that drowned when he fell thru the ice. They said conditions were really bad!), no good entry/exit.... muddy. The pond was not very big around.... but we know it's 35 feet deep. We know it IS mapped for depth, drop offs, drainage, etc... but couldn't get our hands on the map (lovely city dragging their feet). Also... we DID have the water tested... as we didn't want to jump into cess pool. The water quality of our neighborhood pond came back fine (safe) but, without knowing all the other "stuff" in there, we decided NOT to dive it. Now... let me say, we were only going to bring up the easy stuff... no heavy salvage from the bottom... didn't want to endanger ourselves. But we scrapped the whole idea, cause it just wasn't safe enough, so... no diving the neighborhood pond for us.

 

[Dave Zimmerly]

And depending on your location, there might be snapping turtles, snakes, gattors.

Dave (aka "Squirt")

 

[erparamedic]

We do have snapping turtles in our neighborhood pond... some as big as 15+ inches around! (That's big around here!)

 

[Gil57usa]

Snappers are only aggressive out of the water.

 

[ShallowDiverDave]

My thinking was that if a large quantity of fish thrive in the lake/pond, perhaps it is moderately safe for humans. Also, I planned on staying near the dock area as I was merely looking to get a short simple dive in.

 

[JKSteger]

I have dove in several of the larger Lakes around where I live but wouldn't waste my time in the smaller lakes/ponds around. Most are cattle ponds and are only a few feet deep and vis of about 1/16th of an inch and nasty.

I would love to dive my local county resivor. The water is stunningly clear but absolutely NO swimming and/or diving. The local Public Saftey Divers may get to use it as a training hole but I'm not sure.

I see you are in Atlanta. Come out to the Lake Lanier Looney Birds New Year's day dive and feast with us at West Bank Park on New Years day.

 

[mike_s]

One thing to consider on pond diving is if there is run off from anything questionable. Such as fertilizer from farming or cattle poop.

nothing like having to clean cow crap out of your BC and regulator. Not to mention the bacteria that would be growing on it after the dive.

 

[Web Monkey]

I'm looking for information on how safe it would be to dive your typical neighborhood lake or pond? Basically, would the water be safe to swim in? Would the levels of "whatever" be comparable to a quarry or large public lake anyway?

thanks!

If it's near a residential area and catches runoff, it's likely to contain lots of dissolved dog (and other poop), fishing line, and maybe even some motor oil if you're lucky.

I wouldn't do it.

Terry

 

[ShallowDiverDave]

I have dove in several of the larger Lakes around where I live but wouldn't waste my time in the smaller lakes/ponds around. Most are cattle ponds and are only a few feet deep and vis of about 1/16th of an inch and nasty.

I would love to dive my local county resivor. The water is stunningly clear but absolutely NO swimming and/or diving. The local Public Saftey Divers may get to use it as a training hole but I'm not sure.

I see you are in Atlanta. Come out to the Lake Lanier Looney Birds New Year's day dive and feast with us at West Bank Park on New Years day.

I would love too, but I don't currently own a dry suit. All I have is a measly 3 mm.