Pond owners

lblair · May 12, 2002

Hi TBN'ers
I bet alot of people with ponds have the same problem i do this years. Well i have it most every year. My pond is about 80x100 feet about 7' deep. Like most years it over floods in the spring. This years more so with no frozen ground and lots of local rain. It gets so high that it creeps up into the yard and has to find my leach field. My whole back property gets flooded till about june. Does any one know if there are grants to help pay for the fix in the NY fingerlakes area. I have had some contractors look at it and say...Oh yeah i can
dig that pond bigger and it should help. Or will it? they dont know for sure...i have my doughts due to how my property lays. Plus it is connected with neighboring ponds. There must be some grants to help. Anyone got info on this?
Thanks Larry

Buck · May 12, 2002

Call your soil and water conservation office:

Ontario County SWCD
480 North Main St.
Canandaigua, NY 14424

Office Tel: (716) 396-1450
Fax: 716-396-0137
Email: ONTSWCD@FRONTIERNET.NET
District Formed: December 27, 1940
Thomas DeRue, Sr.
Dist. Mgr.

Buck

lblair · May 12, 2002

Buck,
I am a bit concerned in just calling them. Will they just tell me. Sir you better fix this or youll be fined? The pond was here when i bought the property and i emagine its been problems sence it was put in. I dont have no septic back up problems but the ground water must mix with my leach field this time of year. Alot of the problem is you cant do anything in my back property due to the water. If ill just end up with a large bill to pay i cant afford should i just leave well enough alone?
Thanks Larry

JJT · May 12, 2002

I'm in upstate/central NY and put a 90x120x12' pond in a few years ago. My excavators and I figured it was 800,000 gallons. I found out afterward that anything over 1,000,000 gallons requires permits, engineering, Water & Soil etc. Be careful extending this too much.... It might be easier to raise your leachfield or improve the drainage. I believe the bottom of your drainfield is supposed to be at least 3' higher than the springtime high water mark, (could be a local thing, but it sure makes sense).

lblair · May 12, 2002

JJT,
Would you mind giving a round about cost to put your pond in?
Thanks Larry

Buck · May 12, 2002

lblair,

Good point.

Perhaps, as a start find out what kind of programs are available, in general.

However, maybe a consultation with an local attorney is in order. My attorney plays around with construction and is a big land owner here in Wayne county. My guess is that he'd enjoy your dilemma enough to talk your ear off with advice at no charge on the phone. He does this with me all the time.

If you want his name and number send me a private note.

Buck

Phred · May 12, 2002

Question: How would enlarging it help with the overflow?
Once it fills up to the new max level it will just overflow each spring...? Granted a little larger pond might give you a little more overflow capacity, but won't solve the fundamental problem.

I think you need to add overflow pipes that will start to drain away the water once it reaches a set level. My ponds have this setup and it works pretty well. This asumes that the lay of the land can be made to work.

my two cents..

Phred

lblair · May 13, 2002

I think your 100% right. My land might not be good for that. My pond sits in a slight valley as it is. Thanks for the reply

PhilNH5 · May 13, 2002

Larry,
I agree with your caution on calling in the gov't types. I posted before about a septic problem I had with raw sewage coming out in a surface spring. House was three months old and the county health dept (who I called for advice) threatened to condemn my house. This from the same official that approved the septic 3 months earlier.

In our current house we have a vernal pond behind the house. It to is in a valley. We are in the process of building a berm to keep the pond in its place. You might consider that if your house is upwards of the ponds natural flow. I did have a little trouble getting dirt delivered. Suppliers wanted no parts of someone messing with "wetlands". Stopped saying what I wanted it for and finally got some dilevered. Soon as it drys out back there we will finish up.

JJT · May 13, 2002

$3,000, my excavators slammed it in 4 days. At 1 point we had 5 machines on site, with 2 paid operators, a D4 high track, a 3 yard Case wheel loader, a 20 ton 35 ft reach excavator, a Ford 9000 triaxle, and my little Kubota.