Building Lake Corona

[dragoneggs]

Do you have a way to drain it or do you care? Have you researched using some bentonite to help seal it? I understand golf courses use this for sealing manmade ponds.

Also if you haven't already checked out Eddie Walker's pond and gazebo... more like incredible Pavillion, that is definitely worth a look. I'm sure you are way ahead of me.

 

[jk96]

Do you have a way to drain it or do you care? Have you researched using some bentonite to help seal it? I understand golf courses use this for sealing manmade ponds.

Also if you haven't already checked out Eddie Walker's pond and gazebo... more like incredible Pavillion, that is definitely worth a look. I'm sure you are way ahead of me.

I plan to put in a siphon drain for the overflow. This will serve as both the overflow and a way to drain it if needed. I've followed a lot of Eddie's projects including the gazebo. Great stuff.

 

[ovrszd]

Speaking of wildlife, they are all gonna love your new Lake!!!!

 

[jk96]

Speaking of wildlife, they are all gonna love your new Lake!!!!

The deer have already found the small amount of water that is there now. Been working on some other more time critical projects the last few days. Will probably get started on the pond again next week.

WGI_0036

Have you researched using some bentonite to help seal it?

I don't think I'm going to need it. Plenty of good clay to work with so far. Water is only down 1-1/2" over 5 days. Pretty good for the first fill and such a small body of water.

 

[Molalla1]

^^^^^ that is good. Nice picture.

 

[dragoneggs]

The deer have already found the small amount of water that is there now. Been working on some other more time critical projects the last few days. Will probably get started on the pond again next week.

WGI_0036
I don't think I'm going to need it. Plenty of good clay to work with so far. Water is only down 1-1/2" over 5 days. Pretty good for the first fill and such a small body of water.

Hopefully you will not need to seal it. When I looked into bentonite for a pond I was contemplating, I quickly realized it wasn't cheap! I have some 'veins' of clay but not where my pseudo pond happens to be.

I have some underground springs that fill a low spot so I would have a small pond that would stay full in the winter/spring but the depression is too porous and not enough spring flow to stay filled in the dry months. The last few years I have been diverting the water so it stays somewhat dry in the winter. That is until my resident mountain beaver family dam my ditches. :smiley_aafz:

 

[dodge man]

I did some rough calculating, and it looks like you would need an 18” pipe for your overflow. My degree is in civil engineering but I am not an engineer and am a land surveyor, so you might want to get that number checked. That’s assuming 25% runoff, 15 acres, and a 2inch an hour rain. That results in 7.5 cfs of flow. You would have to look up rainfall data for your area but a true design to a 25 year flood would probably have a lot higher rainfall intensity, maybe as high as 5 inches per hour. Your pond isn’t that big and it doesn’t look like anybody is going to die if it washes out.

 

[ovrszd]

In my area ponds and lakes are built with a small overflow pipe, large amount of dam freeboard and an earthen spillway for those exceptional rains. Intent being to control erosion.

OP's logistical situation will probably dictate his final design.

 

[EddieWalker]

The deer have already found the small amount of water that is there now. Been working on some other more time critical projects the last few days. Will probably get started on the pond again next week.

WGI_0036




I don't think I'm going to need it. Plenty of good clay to work with so far. Water is only down 1-1/2" over 5 days. Pretty good for the first fill and such a small body of water.

Makes me happy seeing the deer enjoying your pond!!!!

 

[two_bit_score]

The deer have already found the small amount of water that is there now. Been working on some other more time critical projects the last few days. Will probably get started on the pond again next week.

WGI_0036




I don't think I'm going to need it. Plenty of good clay to work with so far. Water is only down 1-1/2" over 5 days. Pretty good for the first fill and such a small body of water.

Great picture!

 

[jk96]

I did some rough calculating, and it looks like you would need an 18” pipe for your overflow. My degree is in civil engineering but I am not an engineer and am a land surveyor, so you might want to get that number checked. That’s assuming 25% runoff, 15 acres, and a 2inch an hour rain. That results in 7.5 cfs of flow. You would have to look up rainfall data for your area but a true design to a 25 year flood would probably have a lot higher rainfall intensity, maybe as high as 5 inches per hour. Your pond isn’t that big and it doesn’t look like anybody is going to die if it washes out.

Thanks for the info Dave. I think you are probably pretty close. There is no damage that could be done in a washout but sure don't want to have that happen after doing the work to build it. I would like to get back there during a hard rain to see in person how much water is flowing through there.

 

[jk96]

It's looking like once again the heavy rain may go south of us today. I'm not complaining on this one though. I just finished seeding 3.5 acres of grass seed last week at our wedding venue so a few lighter rains would be nice.

 

[ovrszd]

It's looking like once again the heavy rain may go south of us today. I'm not complaining on this one though. I just finished seeding 3.5 acres of grass seed last week at our wedding venue so a few lighter rains would be nice.

Off subject. Last Fall I seeded almost an acre around our new house and shop. It laid in dry dust for 16 days. We got one small rain that was perfect. Then 4 days later we got 11". I was down in Oklahoma 4 wheeling. I expected a disaster. It actually held up pretty good. I've got some rough spots where erosion happened. But nothing I can't mow thru with little delay. I was pretty stressed about it. I'd invested $1,000 in seed and fertilizer.......

 

[jk96]

Off subject. Last Fall I seeded almost an acre around our new house and shop. It laid in dry dust for 16 days. We got one small rain that was perfect. Then 4 days later we got 11". I was down in Oklahoma 4 wheeling. I expected a disaster. It actually held up pretty good. I've got some rough spots where erosion happened. But nothing I can't mow thru with little delay. I was pretty stressed about it. I'd invested $1,000 in seed and fertilizer.......

I understand your concern. I have about $2,500 in this job. I'm hoping to see some grass coming up in the next few days. We ended up with a good soaking rain yesterday into late last night. No hard rain but had 1-1/4" in the rain gauge. Light to steady rain over a 12 hour period. The pond filled up to the overflows. The rain stopped around 1am last night but there is still a small amount of water flowing out the overflows this morning. I will probably leave the water for now while I move forward with additional clearing to prep for moving more dirt to build up the dam. Oh and moral mushrooms are out. Found about 1lb yesterday on a short walk.

2020-04-25_08-58-33

2020-04-25_08-58-14

2020-04-25_08-56-49

2020-04-25_08-58-04



This is looking back from the dam showing where the waterline will be when finished.

waterline

 

[EddieWalker]

What sucks is even after the water is out, the mud will be really bad for way too long!!!

 

[jk96]

What sucks is even after the water is out, the mud will be really bad for way too long!!!

Tracks will make working much easier. Once the rain is out of the forecast I'll go ahead and drain what's there.

 

[ovrszd]

Thanks for the pics. I can visualize it now. Will be a great Lake.

Figured you had mushrooms down there. We'll have them in another week.

We got an inch of rain last night. Gentle and slow.

 

[aczlan]

Tracks will make working much easier.

Until you get stuck, and then they make life much harder...

Aaron Z

 

[jk96]

Until you get stuck, and then they make life much harder...

Aaron Z

I'm curious how that is? Only been stuck on the track loader 3 times and all 3 times was in swampy conditions where the mud liquified and bellied out the machine. I'm not sure how wheels would have made getting unstuck any easier.

 

[aczlan]

I'm curious how that is? Only been stuck on the track loader 3 times and all 3 times was in swampy conditions where the mud liquified and bellied out the machine. I'm not sure how wheels would have made getting unstuck any easier.

Can't get as far with wheels, so you don't have to stretch out as much chain to recover it

Aaron Z