Ponds and Water Gardens - question why

I see lots of homes with large ponds in the front yards or side and back yards not for so mich decoration but looks more like farm ponds, some do have a small fountain in them but most don't.
Is there more of a reason these people have ponds, like for their own private fishing holes or reserve water supply maybe?

I used to live in northern Ohio. Most ponds are multi use so it is hard to pick one reason for a pond. In rural areas the ponds reduce insurance costs by providing a source of water for fire fighting and of course they can be good for fishing and swimming.

Here is my number one reason: Where I grew up in the northern part of the state the land is very flat and prone to flooding. Anytime you wanted to build or grade up you had to get the dirt from somewhere so a pond was created. You got your dirt to build your house a little higher and you also got a pond. Many highway interchanges and bridges have ponds nearby as dirt was needed to build the ramps.

I now live in North Carolina where there are no natural lakes or ponds (no glaciers down here). Almost all the ponds were created to catch water for irrigating tobacco fields during the hot dry summers. Since tobacco farming is in steep decline many of the ponds are no longer used. Other crops are now being grown but they are not profitable enough to pay running a pump so nature slowly reclaims the ponds by turning them into swamps or wetlands.

And don't forget that some places may use them for heating and cooling.....ground source heat pump I think its called?

If the pond is large and deep enough of course.

sounds like likely reasons ,thanks.

I used to live in fla and half of the small lakes [think big pond] are dug to keep the lots that they wish to build homes on, dry. As noted there can be a wide variety of reasons for manmade ponds. Oh ya, in fla, if a builder buys enough wet land to create a pond large enough to put several houses around it, he'll charge extra for lake front property :eek::D

some ponds that you see in back yards are not there for looks even if the builder says it is. they are installed to treat the storm water run off before it goes into the rivers and lakes.