As of last spring, the Facilities department noticed a sudden drainage in the school pond behind St. Joseph Hall.

Principal Carl Patton was alerted and called environmental engineers from the Chesapeake Management Team to work on the problem.

Engineers used a temporary fix by putting sandbags along the pipe outside of the pond and hoped to have it restored back to its previous state within time.

Dr. Patton explained, “If you go take a look at where the water was coming out, there is a sandbag and stone barrier there…That equalizes the pressure so that the water can fill back up.”

Although the stone barrier is temporary, it could last indefinitely and provide a better ecosystem for the wildlife that still lives there.

During the summer, the pond suffered through drastic dry heat, causing the water levels to be lower. However, during the last weeks of summer, rain supplied the pond with better levels.

Since the pond has gained more water, “you’re going to see a film over top of [the pond] simply because when it was very low, a lot of vegetation grew in that area because it was sitting there,” Dr. Patton added.

This will cause the pond to decay and cause it to smell bad temporarily. Although currently, it has turned into a waiting game due to the weather which determines when the pond can fill back up to its original size.

Science Teacher Mary Beth Cochran said, “[The pond] is getting better. The problem is that it’s not raining.”

Nevertheless, students and faculty are still able to access and visit the pond during classes and after school.

Ms. Cochran added, “I just took the Chesapeake Bay class out. The students put waders on and actually went in and scooped out water samples… The pond is a very important part to a lot of classes.”

As the pond continues to recover, many of the wildlife such as fish, turtles, and herons have been spotted and are maintaining a safe habitat.