Pond/Spring Rehabilitation

[Airic]

Posted early last year but, plans and schedule changed a bit so I've started a new thread. Working on rehabilitating a pond/spring and creating irrigation that started beginning of last year just before I purchased my tractor.

When we first moved into our house we assumed we had a muddy marsh trash pit. It was nasty with toilets, washer, dryer, bikes, glass, tires and the list goes on. No pictures but, I started cleaning up all of the trash by hand and noticed how deep the silt was and the constant standing water so, I started getting interested. I hooked up a 2" flex hose to 2" PVC I had routed down the hill about 100 ft to created a siphon. For about 2 weeks on and off I would siphon the black silt and pick out cans and glass and discovered what I thought must be a spring because it would continually refill itself.

Then came the tractor and the fun began. First item was digging a trench for the 4" drain/main irrigation line so I could control water level. The first picture is my original plan.

 

[Airic]

Been taking it slow due to other projects and also taking study to water level changes and spring output throughout the year.

 

[Airic]

This year I've started to do a little more work now that I'm becoming more familiar with my tractor and its capabilities. I've been contemplating on removing the trees at the back of the pond due their lean and the roots that route into the pond. Last week I drained the pond and cut and dug the trees out. Now that I have taken them out I realize that I must of had a leak as the water level is now going higher than it had been before. I've yet to know what the highest level will be but, at this time of the year it is rising 2" every hour. I will not find its natural level till I raise the level of clay on the back side of the pond. The pictures attached are the draining and work around the pond. Raised the drain and in 24 hours its full again.

 

[ampsucker]

good start on a pond!

most likely what you have is a perched water table that creates a spring at the point where it is easiest for it to come out of the ground due to hydraulic pressure. this is common with heavy clay soils where the top couple of feet have a decent perc rate but the clay gets heavier as it gets compressed several feet under the ground essentially forming an impemeable pan the water cannot drain through. it then builds up pressue and travels along the pan forming a wet water spring when it comes to the surface.

i think the biggest problem you'll have keeping the water contained are all the trees and roots along the dam area. you should ideally remove the trees and dig the stumps and then compact the dam and sow grass on top. this will keep the dam intact and fight erosion and the tree roots won't leave holes when the die and rot away. keep the dam mowed a couple of times a year and you'll have a nice, steady water level in your pond you can control with irrigation and drain pipe.

i would also be sure to screen the drain and irrigation pipes in a way you can easily clean them. screen both ends so critters don't crawl in there and plug them up.

amp

 

[Airic]

Thanks Ampsucker. I believe you are correct. Up the hill above the pond is 24" of top soil and then pure sand for as far as I can dig. At the pond it is all pit run on the uphill side with a layer of sand above it. On the low side of the pond is all heavy thick clay. I have had no issues digging stumps but, trying to get a full bucket of clay is difficult due to how compact it is. I've done a little digging on the spring side but have kept it to a minimum so I don't disturb it flow or create erosion. Now that I have the trees/stumps out I am scraping away the top soil to expand and rebuild the sides with clay.

 

[Airic]

Made a little more progress over the weekend. Took down a couple more trees, dug out the stumps and scraped away the top soil for construction of the new dam. Got another foot of top soil to take out and then I can start working on building up the dam.

 

[EddieWalker]

Great thread!!

Nothing like a pond and a tractor to make for a fun time. I enjoyed your pictures and following along on your discoveries of what your pond is doing. It's always interesting to see what the ground holds and how you go about creating a pond. It sounds like you have the perfect situation with the rising water level and pure, clear water.

Does the water remain year round? Once concern is that the water table will be high during the winter months, but drop in the summer months. The water will flow from the ground to the pond when the water table is high, but when the water table is low, the water will flow in the opposite direction and drain from the pond. If this happens, it will be impossible to keep water in it year round. If the water table remains higher then the pond water year round, you are golden!!! If it drops, then that is where you pond water level will be.

Ideally, if the water table drops, you want the pond to be below the low point and have the water flow from the spring or seepage, down to the pond. This way, if the water table drops, the pond will not be affected.

Keep up the good work, I'm looking forward to following your progress.

Eddie

 

[Airic]

Thanks Eddie. This has been a really fun project and has taken more study and research than I had originally expected. What I thought was going to be a quick project has really been slowed down for the need of seasonal water level review and research which has been good. The spring source is within the pond and not above so I did have concerns early that I would have a dry pit come summer based upon research and this forum understanding how a spring works was valuable.

The big rock you see with the flat top has been my reference point on studying the water level throughout last year which I just learned recently as not being accurate. It had maintained a level 1-2" below the top of rock all year long and even this spring. Once I had removed the trees on the back side a few weeks back I must of hit a prior leak point because the water level now goes above. This makes since because the trees were sitting on pit run from when the pond was originally dug (18 years ago based upon the tree rings). In addition, there was less flow within the drain pipe when the pond was full than when empty and now it appears to be the same. As to how far higher it could go I don't know yet due to current work in progress. This will be something I'll be reviewing during the year.

My girls really want some fishies but, Ive been a bit reluctant till I'm finished. I may start out with some gold fish to see how well they do and then maybe try some Kio when complete but, heard they may not do well with the cold spring water and high PH. Been feeling bad for the frogs and mud puppies with the constant fill and draining and construction but they have seem to managed OK.

 

[laen64]

What tractor unit are you using?
How is the pond looking NOW!

 

[Airic]

I've got MF 2310. Not a big tractor but, it does a wonderful job. Mud mess today with the rain but, it did fill up to my set drain level over night.

 

[Airic]

Doing some additional research and I have a question. For the size of pond I'm building, is it still important to build a core trench when constructing the dam? I keep hearing this term and think I understand the concept but not sure on what specifically I should be doing to construct it and what level it is constructed. Is it based upon when you hit clay? As a general understanding of what I'm building the height of dam on the water side will be about 6' and a 1/2 pitch slope. The height on the back side will be approximately 8' with a 1/4 pitch slope possibly less slope. As you can see from the photos it is a fairly small pond (water garden).

 

[sld]

If you have some clay to work with I'd just build it up packing it down between layers. Once you get some vegetation going it will be stable.

It's not like you are damming up a fast moving water source. In that case you would have to be more particular about the construction.

 

[NY_Mr Project]

Great Thread, Please keep the Pics Coming.

That water looks so Clear, if you do eventually get fish, you will be able to see them. You should get turtles and frogs and make it a TERRARIUM. Your kids will love that.

 

[FortClatsop]

Very nice. I'm a sucker for a good pond project. Three cheers for cleaning up the garbage dump. It sounds like the pond was your reward. Keep up the good work. Some day I'll post pictures of my slough when it floods the lower field. It just isn't the same as a pond.

 

[czechsonofagun]

Great project, keep it coming. Clean up and rebuilt, my favored

I never understood, how people can stand a trash site on their property, not just in mud and former ponds, but some of the old farms I seen are full of stuff just sitting out there, lines of broken trucks, cars and tractors and implements.

 

[Airic]

Thanks guys, it痴 been a fun project and the clear water continually amazes me as I've not seen the same condition in any other pond. Put 20 something feeder gold fish and a water Lilly in last week for a test on survivability and to satisfy the girls on wanting fish. Hope I don't dig any up. All the goldfish found rocks to hide under and you're lucky if you even see one. Once I put them in, I realized the scale of things and I would need at least 200 to give yourself something to look at. If a goldfish lives, would Kio? Heard fish don't do well with a high Ph but, need to do further research. I've tested and the Ph is around 12 or so, quite high. I'll do a more comprehensive water test but, I'll get to that later.

Removed more top soil last weekend but, the rain has slowed me down a bit. I should have more updated photos after this week end as the weather is to be nice.

As for the garbage, the cleanup has come a long way. Even got my neighbor involved on cleaning up his land as he has been watching me pick up. There is a garbage dump in the far back of his property that is almost all cleaned up now. We cleaned up all the trash and had over 100 tires hauled out. All thats left is a bunch of concrete and rocks that I'll be taking for the pond and other projects and then I'll grade it out for him.

 

[Airic]

Been busy with work and not had time to respond lately. Last week I made some really good progress till I broke the valve stem off my front tire and also been hunting for morels in my yard. Strange thing but the morels came up all over the areas I excavated last year. I知 well over 100 by now and some of the biggest Ive ever seen. Anybody else experience this?

It all has come together much better than expected. Prior week I had excavated all of the top soil from the site. I then dug a 2' deep core trench around the dam and then removed clay around the pond side of this trench so I could get better compaction by driving on it. Once the trench was filled I then started the excavation. Used the frond loader for most of the work and it worked much better than expected when driving into the hole. BH was mostly used for retrieving rocks and a counter weight while driving into and backing out of the hole. I dug to about 7' deep with the buildup of the dam and it is now much deeper than the existing side. Based upon Eddie's comments I wanted most of the pond lower than the spring output so water level will maintain a good level if the spring slows during the summer. Took a bit longer to fill but, in two days the pond was full again and the water output though the drain has not changed from what it was before.

I would say my biggest issue was not planning for the amount of spoils and not putting the top soil far enough away to allow easier work around the pond but I only had to move 3 decent size piles. Total project took 5 days and 20 gal. of diesel.

Next is adding a bit more clay to the top of the dam, finish grading on the back side of the dam, bringing back some top soil, planting grass seed, and setting more concrete chunks and rocks for features and such.

On finishing the dam, what should the height of the dam to be from the water level? I also need some ideas on building a spill way. Ideally I would like the spillway to skim off the pond for the 7-9 months as it is constantly filling and then use the pipe for irrigation or cleaning during the summer so, I'm thinking concrete but need ideas on how it should be constructed.

 

[Airic]

More Pics

 

[Airic]

And a just a few more.

 

[Cacinok]

cool thread airic. i have a pond myself that needs some help. if you want answers to your questions, read through eddie's lake marabou (sp?) thread. it is long, but he has links, pics and more than enough explanation to go from dry ground to successful pond. including the core, dam height, spillway, etc.

again cool thread. i wish it'd stop raining here so i could get out and have some fun, er., i mean, get some work done.