Water Extraction of any kind from the Cot Stream, to fill a  very large”pond” considered by some to be a Lake, is detrimental to the stream, which runs in the base of the small steep sided Cot Valley. An AONB  and World heritage site. This stream is the lifeline of the Valley and meanders through its steep sided banks out to sea. Elvers from the Sargasso Sea, after swimming 2,000 perilous miles, hide in the rocks and pools in the lower stream near Porth Nanven , on National Trust Land , until in around early May when the stream is in flood they can migrate upstream into the higher Cot Valley (where the pond in now excavated) and make their homes in small  Rock Pools and overhangs. Here they then stay for about an incredible 30 years, and when fully mature , their instincts tell them  when to head back out to sea and return to their breeding grounds in the Sargasso Sea  , again another2,000 miles . And so the cycle continues. IF the stream is depleted in any way this migration within the stream will be broken. If there is insufficient water ,due to extraction , to keep the “pond`’full and we experience higher temperatures  and drier weather the stream will be insufficient for this migratory cycle to continue. The Brown Trout and other Aquatics who reside in the stream also rely on the water levels and purity of the water to survive. Friable banks of the “pond`” abutting the stream,  when disturbed , either by heavy rainfall, the stream itself, burrowing animals or the land owners cattle cause silting of the clear gravel beds , needed for spawning of their eggs. IF nature had intended a “POND” of this size she would have done so. The Eco-system and Bio Diversity of this small ancient Valley has evolved over thousands of years, since the ice age. It needs no embellishments from man.