Pond Questions

[tractorshopper]

I built a pond just before Christmas. Put in about 16 hrs on the tractor. Had fun doing this. Pictures here are horrible, but they're the best I've got. Had to rush to finish since rain was coming. Filled up and actually overflowed the 2nd night. Now is leaking down. Is it normal for a pond to "settle" in? I can't find any water leaking around the dam at all. I've read many threads on ponds here including Jinman's, Bindian's, and of course, Eddie Walker's.

I dug a key trench to about 4' deep in most places where the dam is now to ensure I was in clay with no top soil to interfere anywhere that I dammed. I refilled wity clay and packed in layers of about 4" each by driving over and over, etc. The highest point of the dam in these pictures is only about 4' higher than the land behind it (I'm raising it more now). The deepest part in these pictures is about 7.5' right where the water enters from the drainage ditch. Boy do I get a lot of runoff. More than I thought. I had put in a couple 4" pipes because that was all I had at the time but was picking up some 8" smooth wall culverts to put in to do properly. It overflowed the 4" ones and topped the dam (nearly a foot higher) the first night, but since I had packed so well, it didn't much damage at all. Since these pictures, I've started installing the two 8" culverts and have built up what I can, but it's been raining a minute amount every 2-3 days now so it's so slick I'm not getting far right now. I'm putting the bottom of them about 6" higher than where the 4" pipes are in these pictures and will remove the 4" corrugated pipes. Basically since that first big rain and no real additional runoff from the small rains since, the pond is down about 4' in just over a week now. Is this normal, or will I have to line it? As you can see from the pictures, I have a lot of clay and thought this would hold well. There is a vein or two of loamy stuff, but it was very hard packed and not on the dam side. Basically, current water level is now at the bottom of the island.

 

[tractorshopper]

I also meant to ask how to clear up water. The runoff is actually pretty clear coming in, but the filling of the pond obviously mixed up mud from the new dig and I was hoping it would clear up. It has cleared up some, but is still more red than I had hoped.

 

[sld]

Nice work! It won't clear up until you get some vegetation established around the water line. After that, you can place straw bales every few feet. As they decompose, they make the clay particles clump together and settle to the bottom.

When I dug my pond, it lost water for several months. I think once the bottom was saturated enough to the water table it quit losing water. Where is the water table relative to the pond bottom?

Also, having the runoff channel thru a grassy waterway will help too.

 

[LD1]

How deep is it in total? You said it is down 4' and it dont look much deeper than that in total??? The mud should eventually settle out of the water, but everytime it rains it is going to look like that until you get the area around seeded and established.

As to the water level dropping, I am no pond expert, and this is exactally why I like to have a pro at least survey the area, look at some test holes, and look at a soil map. If it isnt leeching through the dam, it must be leaching into the ground. There is a good chance that vein of loamy stuff you mentioned it where it is going. Around me, there are areas that have what they call "piping". Which is veins of sandy gravely stuff that basically acts like field tiles and carries the water our of the pond.

 

[tractorshopper]

LD1, it's down I'm guessing about half way. It's only about 7.5' at the deepest point in the pictures, but I'm raising another 6-8" above that as I install the actual culverts, so the deepest point in the future will be about 8' or so. This total area by my best calcs is about 4,526 ft2, so about a tenth of acre I guess. At worst, if it doesn't stop settling, I'll line it with a poly liner and throw more clay on top of that when it's way down this summer, but I'm hoping this is just a normal saturation process that will fix itself, kind of like what sld said. Maybe just wishful thinking though. The natural terrain basically runs at the same slope in the same direction another 200 ft. I'm honestly not sure about the water table in the area. I didn't hit one while digging this. I just know that I get a lot of runoff and it seemed like a good idea to make an eye pleasing setting out of it and get some play time on the tractor.

 

[PAGUY]

ts - I wonder if that tree in the middle of the pond could be your problem. From reading about pond projects I got the message that trees will eventually die when surrounded by water. In your case I wonder if the root structure of that tree is acting like a drain. Might have been better to have removed the tree and small island and covered that area with clay. JMO - PAGUY

 

[boggen]

www.thepondboss.com is like TBN but for mud / clay ponds.
Koiphen.com is also like TBN is more for liner ponds, but ya might get some contact info for someone locally to come out and look at things as well.

some things right off....

i do not see any sort of "overflow pipe" and i do not see any sort of "run off" area when overflow pipe gets clogged. without them. one good rain, and water erods out the dam, and entire pond water goes with it.

your island tree, is going to get nailed pretty hard possibly. from erosion, to point of possibly loosing tree all together.

7.5' depth is going to hurt ya in dry seasons, as in droughts. and just having a muddy mess, possibly. depends on inflow of water.

the rocks you have for water coming into pond. can help reduce erosion, but having a good rock base, and grass ways around things to help filter the water. and reduce erosion is critical.

your overflow pipe, for pond most likely going to be much larger. pending on local area, a 4" pipe is way to easy clog up. with a stick or leaves, frog, fish, etc... getting say 12" or slightly bigger overflow pipe. might be more advisable. less chance of clogging up. and can flow a good wealth of GPM (gallons per minute of water) if it needed to.

2 single 8" culverts, vs going with a single larger culvert pipe for a overflow. again there is a difference with clogs. larger pipe much easier to deal with, and less head aches down the road.

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i would seriously say get a hold of some actual pond/lake installers. and get them out there so they can physically walk around and take a look at things. if you wait a couple years from now. you will more likely be at more $$$$$ compared to getting the lake drained down now. and being able to get in there and fix things easier.

digging hole is the easy part. it is all the little things. that can bite ya in the rear. call up a few folks, both through internet and locally and get a couple companies / folks out there and look at things. internet pictures / videos does not really give a pond your size justice of what can be seen and obtained, vs being there in actual person.

 

[srstanfield]

Did you core the dam? Check with the soil conservation people in your area. they have maps that will give you a clue whether an area will hold water or not. They can core certain places to see soill makeup. You can haul in clay and pack a foot thick that may help. First you have to find out where the water is going. If is is leaking through bottom of pond, use clay or liner. If through dam, recore dam, find leak and spread sodium bentonite in leaking area. There is a subscription you may want to look into. Pond Boss magazine that is a good information source. I dug a pond on our place that the soil conservation guys said would not hold water; however, after spreading clay around certain areas, it holds perfectly. Neighbors dug one that will not hold water, go figure.

 

[crbr]

Thanks for the pictures

 

[tractorshopper]

Thanks guys. I have 2 8" smooth wall culverts now and am slowly installing due to raining every 2-3 days right now and not being able to do tractor work in the muck. It's hard to see, but there are 2 4" corrugated pipes that I temporarily installed prior to the first rains which filled and overflowed the dam, but the dam held due to all the packing as I noted earlier. I think the comments about the tree in the island may be very well problematic. I don't know what that tree will drink daily, but to be honest, I left it because it's currently too big to take out with my tractor. I think it may eventually cave and fall and if/when it does, I'll chain up to it and pull it out can cut in sections. We got rain again last night, about 1/2 to 3/4" and the pond is back up to 3/4 full again and that was a slow soaking rain. I'm just going to play it by ear between now and summer and see if it will saturate itself in or not and if not, will line it. I can tell you the dam is done right and will continue to be as I finish it with the larger pipes and spillway. I did the temporary thing before the rains and it worked well other than being too small to take that amount of water.

I really did this project on a whim because I had wanted to do it for a while. If I have to line it, that's fine. No seepage anywhere on the dam or wet spots around it. Worse case, I put a liner in for it to retain the runoff it gets. A little rain periodically will keep filling it up. It is/was a fun project to do in spare time, which I don't get much of these days with having kids in middle school.