Return to the Landscape Design Forum
| Post a Follow-Up
Removal of Stream Fed pool
| | |
Posted by esumers NY (My Page) on Sun, Nov 15, 09 at 18:39
| I recently have seen a house with a gigantic wrecked concrete STREAM FED pool. This may be a deal breaker. Seems like it will be very complicated to remove and reroute (conduit?) the stream with big regulatory hassles. Does anyone have any experience with this? |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Removal of Stream Fed pool
| | |
| From your brief description it appears that the wrecked concrete stream fed pool is the type of installation common to the Adirondack area before the days of environmental controls. Assuming the property is located in NY suggest you proceed with caution and contact the nearest Dept. of Conservation (DEC) office before going further. You want someone from that office to look at the situation, indicate if the stream is a Class B or C waterway and put into writing all determinations they would make on the present situation and the design for correcting/changing the situation. DEC will draw designs for waterway changes. Once you have that in hand you will know the problems, if any and can get cost estimates from contractors. All of this will take time. In this case time may be your best friend. I have dealt with New York's DEC on numerous occasions and would urge you to play by their "rule book". It will prevent you from buying into a possible costly, DEC nightmare situation. If the property under consideration is in another state the above comments also pertain to how to handle matters in that state. |
RE: Removal of Stream Fed pool
| | |
| I have see a few of them ... when you say "wrecked", what do you mean? Can you convert the pool into a shallow pond by filling it in with boulders and gravel? Also, these usually are fed by a bypass pipe from the stream- they aren't in the normal flow. Is the old stream bed still there? |
RE: Removal of Stream Fed pool
| | |
| Do you have a picture of this steam fed pool? I have never seen one of those.... is it like swimming with the fishes? |
RE: Removal of Stream Fed pool
| | |
- Posted by bahia SF Bay Area (My Page) on
Tue, Nov 17, 09 at 12:01
| There isn't enough information given to really address what might be done about the situation. Stream fed ponds that I am familiar with here in California usually divert a portion of the stream flow above the pond, then allow the overflow to flow back into the stream, and are rarely built within the original boundaries of the stream itself. Nandina may well be right that the regulations she cites apply to such cases as well, I wouldn't know. In any case, in most areas it is probably rather difficult to create such a pond/pool legally these days, and repairing for further use such an existing pond may also be difficult to do. I would have thought that the real estate agent/company listing the property would have disclosures about what is permitted with such a pond/pool as part of their listing information for the house. I would be very surprised if they had not researched the legalities of repairingremoving the pond, to protect themselves from lawsuits from a future buyer. I wouldn't expect them to have given any research to the costs of repairs or removals, simply whether it could be done. If the pond/pool is not within the stream bed, it would seem probable that it could simply be filled in, rather than removed, unless local laws prohibit this. |
RE: Removal of Stream Fed pool
| | |
| A few more words on this subject. Always be cautious when dealing with streams because you never know, without checking, where that water flows to. Let's take a hypothetical situation and assume that the stream under discussion becomes a part of the Catskill watershed which joins together with other streams to form the reservoir which services New York City's drinking water. All of this watershed is protected land. It is very wise to have permits in hand before tinkering with a stream or any type of moving water. Actually, the permitting agencies will be helpful to a landowner wishing to make changes by doing the engineering designs at no cost and supervising the construction. I have worked with such agencies in NY and SC and found them to be strict yet very helpful. Although we have limited information re this situation I suspect that the 'fix' is fairly easy and DEC would work with the property owner to remedy it. |
RE: Removal of Stream Fed pool
| | |
| There are also federal laws governing streams and you really don't want to violate those. It is not only wise to have permits in hand-it is often a legal requirement. |
|
|
|
|
