Swimming pool vs pond

If you just want to swim,and are willing to do/pay for the upkeep,go for the pool.How safe a pond is to swim in depends greatly on runoff,management,size,source of water,etc.As far as snapping turtles,snakes,and gators,these are all relatively harmless critters,and you just about have to be stupid(hold my beer,and watch this)or extremely unlucky to run into a problem with 'em.Lotsa' the moccasin bite around here happen when someone reaches into the filtering devices of their swimmig pools.

We have a river. My kids, ages 12, 17 and 20 have always swam in the river. It's clean and unpolluted though there is the occasional wildlife. We hold 'floats' where we put as many as 75 teens down the river on innertubes and feed them when they'd done floating. We fish in the river and kayak. My kids have all been swim team kids but seem to have no problems with natural bodies of water. We have a place at the beach and swim in the ocean too, though we have actually seen a gator in the saltwater and a number of other large critters, to regularly include whales, manatees, dolphin and shark. We swim there anyway, using common sense when the critters are around.

I never knew...

Lots of swimming in ponds around here, but our ponds don't sound anywhere near as dangerous as y'alls.

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About diseases (etc) in ponds. I just witnessed (about a week ago) a fat young male taking Mississippi River water into his mouth and then would squirt it back out like it was a water gun. Did this for a while (he had just "cashed" an 18 pack). If you aren't aware, the Mississippi up here is very muddy and most communities dump there "waste" into the water (most has been treated). We even have days where the beach closes because of bacteria counts (usually August). I have also had the opportunity to swallow river water on occasion (accident!). Neither I, nor my fat little 18pack drinking buddy got sick, although i wouldn't want to know what i ingested! Saying that, i would still rather swim in Lake Wazee then any pool (its a former iron mine that was allowed to fill in with ground water...super clean, super clear, super cold, and super deep (350ft).

Go for the pool. If later on you decide you would rather have a pond just stop cleaning the pool.

All of the kids I grew up around went swimming in ponds, creeks and rivers and never got sick. Some of the ponds were rather stagnant and foul smelling in the late summer when it hadn't rained much. A couple of the river backwaters were particularly foul. Nobody ever died. The worst anyone ever got was a leech.

I'd go for the pond.

Speaking of which I took a dip in the pond after cutting brush yesterday. Nice way to cool off.

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Respect The Cactus!

We've had a pond and now have a pool. I'd go with the pool, much cleaner and not that much trouble.

Well I have both a 18' above ground pool and a pond.

Ponds can be fun for kids.
When my kids were young they would play in the pond rather than the pool because it is different. I even played in a pond as a kid but I had no pool.
While the eco system of a pond works well; swimming in it can mess it up by stirring up dirt. My pond is run off water only and I would not call it stagnant water. In fact if I did not fertilize it for fish you would be able to see the bottom 5' down. But if you swim in a small pond a lot it becomes a mud hole just like it does when you use it for heavy stock watering.
You will always have fish even if you do not stock it. This attracts snakes and turtles. Most turtles will run from you and you can build a turtle trap so no problem; and snakes can be cut down by cutting the grass and keeping area clean around the pond.
Yes there are parasites in ponds. It is part of the natural eco system. People have been swimming in ponds and rivers for years and years. Now if it has stock watering or high weed counts it can get out of control but that is a mud hole not a pond.


Now a pool is a very controlled water system. It takes a filter and weekly chemicals. A never ending task and expense.

I think you summed up your answer for yourself though.
“is it realistic for fairly YUPPY me”
So get a pool.

Your all a buch of city hicks!

I would swim in a pond, as a child we had a pond that was fairly clean and many people swam in it regularly, no farm chemicals, the runoff into the pond was from set aside land that gets mowed twice a year, the sides of the pond was well maintained, no catails or lillies.

Now some new owners have it, and it's gone downhill! catails everywhree, algae and lillies. I wouldn't swim in it now.....

build a nice dock and put a ladder on it so you can get out without getting you feet muddy