For ten years I have had a small pond in the backyard 100 feet from the house which does not freeze in the winter. It runs off the sump pump output in a two inch PVC line underground. The secret is a ten foot standpipe with an open top next to the house gutter. You can hear the water rise and gurgle in the standpipe (red arrow on top of the PVC) as it turns on. Until I set up the standpipe, the sump pump would choke trying to send the water out year round. Note in the picture, I allow a trickle (red arrow on ground) to refresh the pond, with the remainder of the flow diverted a further 20’ back behind the pond.
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It looks like a nice little spring-fed pond, complete with watercress. Neat.
Do you have to run a sump pump in the house due to groundwater incursion, or for some of your brown water waste?
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Groundwater around base of house via drain tile…
something like 45-60 degrees…never freezes
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I bet the critters enjoy being able to find an open water source in the winter.
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Very nice and good idea. I bet the toads and frogs love it too
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Any idea how many gallons a day you are moving? I have a small pond but it is frozen up right now. I wonder how much water it would take to keep it open. I’m on a well here but our water table in’t very deep…abotu 20 feet.
What an awesome oasis you have! Im surprised you did not get ducks or geese moving in
Ducks in summer, rabbits and critters drinkng all year long, bees all summe long, goldfish for ten or fifteen years. Birds all year long. The amount I allow to keep the pond topped up and refreshed is a steady trickle, somewhat like a male childs pee stream. The remainder gets shunted twenty or thirty feet back behind the pond to the orchard. If I would let the whole sump flow into the pond, it overflows. The two inch PVC 100’ line is running about a foot underground, and even this deep, the snow melts above it.
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I buy the sump pumps gauranteed for life. I am on my second one in fifteen some years.
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I have been pondering a similar project, but my water softener discharges with the sump, I am not sure how the softener discharge would affect a small pond.
Do girls pee less? 
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I think goldfish and rabbits and ducks are pretty resiliant. People drink their softened water all the time. Most softened water is perfectly safe to drink.
Would love to see a schematic of your pump, pipes, etc. Did you insert or form a liner for the pond? Thinking of doing something like that myself…
