There is a pond which is near our house and I have seen some people urinating in its water, I want to ask whether the water of that pond is pure and can I use it for making 'Wudu' (ablution)?

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger. We ask Allaah to exalt his mention as well as that of his family and all his companions.

If an impurity falls into water then this water is one of the following:

1)     If one of its three characteristics, i.e. taste, colour or smell changes: In this case this water is impure, it is not acceptable to perform ablution with it and it does not remove an impurity according to the consensus of the scholars.

2)     If the taste, colour or smell of the water does not change by an impurity falling into it, then this water is of two kinds: (A) If it is a large quantity of water and the impurity did not change its characteristics, this kind of water is pure according to the consensus of the scholars. (B) If it is a small quantity of water and the impurity did not change anything in it, then the majority of scholars are of the view that it is impure and it is not valid for ablution. However, they differed about defining what is exactly a small or a large quantity of water. Some of them defined a large quantity of water to be two Qulah, a measure of volume equivalent to 160.5 litres, and a pond usually contains a larger quantity than this. Some other scholars consider this quantity of water to be pure as the Prophet said: "Water is pure and nothing can render it impure (i.e. if a person who is in a state of major impurity touches it, or some impure materials is thrown into it)."

So if the pond that you inquired about is as big as mentioned and its taste, colour or smell did not change by urinating into it, then its water is pure and it is permissible to perform ablution with it. However, if one of its characteristics changes by urinating in it, then its water is impure and it is not acceptable to perform ablution with it.

Allaah Knows best.