Water Supply, Pond Design And Levee Pond Economic Analyses Workshop

Ernest W. Tollner

The catchment analyses and storage pond enables harvesting water for multiple uses, one of which may be to supply a levee pond for Tilapia production. The catchment pond software performs a water balance over a year. The watershed pond catches all or part of the runoff from a watershed upstream. The pond evaluates the area needed to provide adequate runoff to maintain pond volume during driest month and provides analyses of sustainability through the year in the event that the watershed area will not supply adequate water during parts of the year. A rating is provided for comparing pond feasibility over multiple sites. The levee pond software enables one to specify climates and soils where functional Tilapia levee ponds are possible. The pond requires knowledge of seepage rates of soils and knowledge of how to measure water flow rates from springs or streams. The user can select the appropriate climatic region, input an appropriate seepage rate for the soil and input the available stream or well flow. The user can try numerous pond areas and depths to determine if the specified pond will maintain its volume through the typical year. The workshop gives a detailed discussion on evaluating sites for pond suitability. A spreadsheet is presented for cost estimation of levee ponds. An engineering background is preferable but not required. Participants should have a feel for soil seepage and know what it is. They should be able to estimate watershed cover conditions; should be comfortable with estimating the flow of a well or small stream using bucket and stopwatch approaches. Users must bring their own laptop and will be provided a copy of the software in English and Spanish. The computers should be Pentiums running Windows 95, 98 (more recent versions are OK also) with Microsoft Excel. A CD reader is required to load the software.

Sunday, March 30, 2008 8:30AM-12:00PM