Clearing up murky dam water ?

[dennis52]

Have a small , 15 year old dam ( maybe 10,000 gallons when full) that is fed from a public gravel road culvert above my farm. I always have plenty of water in the dam for my horse troughs but the water is constantly brown and murky to look at. The road above my farm has a lot of fines in it and gets really dusty after only a few days without rain. Trouble is my dam water is collecting these fines. There is probably about a 6'' layer of silt on the bottom of the dam which is 6 ft deep in the middle. There is no plant life to speak of in the dam and it receives shade in the afternoon . Water birds regularly feed on small fish and yabbies in it.

Any ideas on what I can safely put in the water to settle the suspended particles and clear it up. The quality of the water is ok and it is clear as it comes out of the hose at the horse trough. The dam just looks a little unsightly.
Thanks.

 

[20 20]

Is there any way to clear out the bottom silt 1st? There are chemicals that will settle the water, but I'm no expert on them as I don't believe in chemicals.

 

[Stick895]

Alum.

 

[Gator6x4]

Have a small , 15 year old dam ( maybe 10,000 gallons when full) that is fed from a public gravel road culvert above my farm. I always have plenty of water in the dam for my horse troughs but the water is constantly brown and murky to look at. The road above my farm has a lot of fines in it and gets really dusty after only a few days without rain. Trouble is my dam water is collecting these fines. There is probably about a 6'' layer of silt on the bottom of the dam which is 6 ft deep in the middle. There is no plant life to speak of in the dam and it receives shade in the afternoon . Water birds regularly feed on small fish and yabbies in it.

Any ideas on what I can safely put in the water to settle the suspended particles and clear it up. The quality of the water is ok and it is clear as it comes out of the hose at the horse trough. The dam just looks a little unsightly.
Thanks.

Some good information that addresses your problem can be found here. Muddy Water in Ponds, A-6-01

 

[Biggreenavalanche]

Go to Pond Boss Magazine: Welcome good folks with tons of advice...they've got several threads concerning murky water...

Rich

 

[plowindeeper]

Can you not place a silt screen in the creek to prevent this from happening

 

[RobertBrown]

Alum.

gazunteight!