The pond was designed to encircle the Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims so as to suggest that the monument is floating. It is 17 meters wide and 70 meters long. It was originally designed as a 2-meter-wide moat encircling the monument on three sides, but when the Flame of Peace was established on August 1, 1964, the Flame of Peace Construction Committee expanded the pond behind the monument to a width of 17 meters and a length of 70 meters, its current dimensions.
Twice a year, at the end of July and the end of December, the Flame of Peace Maintenance Committee cleans the pond.