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[Maul_Junior]

I've developed a bit of a habit, that I'm codifying into a Doctrine. At every embark, I use every single Stagnant Pool (those bits of water that are eerwhere on the surface). but not for fishing or anything like that. Nope, I use them for something better.

First step is to cut down all the trees near them. The more that fall into the pool, the better. Then, I dig out underneath the surface layer, and drain them completely. If some of the water goes over rocks, so much the better.

Next, I cover the pools with wood, making notes to be sure to replace the wood with Glass sometime in the future. These initial pools become less of an annoyance to mine around, and are first easy access to the surface to replace surface stockpiles with underground stockpiles, and then they become primary grazing land and a small handful becomes farming land. Since I tend to ebark with deep soil and sand, I'm starting to place my underground farms right next to the formerly stagnant pool surface farms, so I don't have to have separate food stockpiles, nor separate seed stockpiles, or potted seed feeder stockpiles.

Or the related workshops.

This replaces my former practices of channeling out surface areas, then sealing them off again--or finding areas with slight depressions that get walled off, roofed off, and turned into farms.


So now I ask you:

How do YOU exploit the Stagnant Pools, for the glory of the Sontaran Emp--er, Dorfen Empire!

[Pvt. Pirate]

they sometimes just serve as tiles in the moat i don't have to dig out.

[Ironfang]

Yeah, mostly as fortress level farmland. But I will also use them to refil reservoirs, just need to filter it.

[wierd]

In embarks without running water, I will use them as water generators.  I will connect them with channels, so that they can flow between each other, then connect them to the moat I want filled, via a floodgate.  I will drain them until they reach 2/7 to 3/7, then wait for the rain to refill them. Keep this up for long enough, you can fill a sizable moat using them.

Once the moat is filled, I will activate the purpetual waterwheel setup I typically integrate in those circumstances, which then cycles the water around, and removes the stagnant modifier.  The moat is more than 2Z deep, so it then becomes safe to have a well on.

[Lozzymandias]

I have one stagnant pool in my haunted biome. Its filled with blood (everything is), and filthy muck that causes skin blistering in everyone it falls on, as well as paralysis (that might be the pain though, experiments are ongoing).

I built some walls around it and use it as a drowning pool.

[Skorpion]

I tend to embark with a brook handy, so I just pave over any pools, before draining them and wrecking their pool status with flooring.

EDIT: After they're emptied of turtles, at least.

[Thisfox]

I ignore them.

The only suicide-drowns or mass-drownings I've had were when I had an exploratory ice-mining experiment (A long story: It involved taiga and a weregiraffe) so seeing as stagnant pools have never killed my dorfs, they're not a threat to me. I dig out my own farming-pits, just the right size and shape for the farms I want, and roof them over with stone blocks, as they're light and easy to manufacture (or they are when you finally get through the bloody aquifer), or with glass blocks (for roleplay reasons).

So there's no reason to do anything to the stagnant pools.

[Fearless Son]

In sites without running water I use channels from each of them that join up as they work their way to a central cistern.  I try to set pressure plates and floodgates on the opposite side of fortifications adjacent to the pools so they are not completely drained.  On the central aqueduct going into the cistern, I set up a pump I can use to filter out the gunk in the water that makes it unpalatable.  Then I build a well over the cistern. 

Presto!  I have a system that refills itself with fresh water every time it rains. 

[wierd]

Similar to what I do, but I make the moat 2Z deep, and induce flow with a perpetual motion water wheel+screwpump-stack.

Stagnant water flag is contagious, yes-- but cannot persist on water that is moving. Keeping the water in the moat swirling around allows it to be used for wells. The "clean water touches stagnant water resets flag" mechanic is what saves the day here.

http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/v0.34:Water#Stagnant_water

It just needs to circulate through the pump stack, and back into the moat again. This creates natural flow, which keeps the pumpstack running-- and also keeps the water in the moat clean. It being 2Z deep prevents mud and other filth from getting in the buckets.