Too much water for the roots can cause late/slow/mild fall coloring in some trees. It's possible the pond is allowing a lot more water to the roots but there can be a wide range of reasons ranging from too much fertilizer or just seasonal randomness.

Hmm. I don't know about your colour, but is the "pond maple", that is the AB near the pond performing in other ways as well as your other AB?

I would suspect that it is doing well with the extra water as it is a hybrid of silver and swamp (red) maple.

yes it looks very healthy and pretty in the summer. The color is disappointing in the fall, thats the only thing. I think it did get more fertilizer this summer than the other one. I guess that is something to think about. And just wait and see what next fall brings.
thanks for the replies.
Kay

FYI...I have 2 Celebration Maples...freemanni cultivar.

Both have the EXACT same conditions. One turned a nappy brown yellow, the other turned a orangish red.

I blame it on the early freeze we had this year.