Sediment filtering

I need help figuring out a way to control sediment and silt pollution in my pond. Every time a hard rain comes a lot of sediment is washed into my pond from a stream (which is also fed by road runoff). I have a pretty large marshy/bog area but very few plants (looks to have a lot of iron in the soil). What can I plant that will help purify the water going into my pond as well as filter out the sediment? What about structures to help control. Not looking to build a lot of stuff that requires maintenance or spend a ton of money. Can I plant cattails and willows and stuff like that to help out?

cattails.

Fill that marshy area with cattails, that will help filter silt and such, and also provide you with a food source too if you want to go there.

Just don't let them spread into the pond or they may take over.


http://cattailconsultants.blogspot.com/

We use water diverted from a stream for much of our irrigation, and at times it gets very silty. Plants can trap sediment, but can't actually remove it, so your trap will fill up with sediment and get clogged and then maybe overflow to somewhere undesired. You have to be able to get in and dig the collected sediment out when necessary. Here we have a canal before the entrance to our pipe. The water slows down in the canal and drops much of the sediment, and then when necessary we dig the canal out. I've seen people here make a little miniature pond in their canal before it reaches their fields. The little pond fills up with sediment and can be dug out. What you need is something larger than the rest of the channel that the water flows in, so that the water slows down and sort of pools briefly, dropping its sediment.