The Fairly Big Dig

[JoelD]

Deputy, I always wondered how do you keep a man made pond full of water?

Great looking project.

Will you be able to swim in the water?

I know nothing about ponds.

But I know this is one of your areas of expertise.

Thanks,
Joel

 

[deputyrpa]

Deputy, I always wondered how do you keep a man made pond full of water?

Great looking project.

Will you be able to swim in the water?

I know nothing about ponds.

But I know this is one of your areas of expertise.

Thanks,
Joel

One either provides a surface water source (and discharge) and seals the bottom with clay to prevent infiltration, or one digs one in areas of high groundwater elevation, where permability is a benefit. In doing the latter, I am basically daylighting the groundwater which has flowed down the mountain atop bedrock by removing the gravel it has saturated. As you can see in the pics, the groundwater is perched upon that thick (probably about 6') blue clay layer. If we punched through that, the water may go down the drain! The gravel is confined between blue clay on the bottom, and clayey topsoil.

The water will eventually be clear...and COLD, and is going to be a swimmable pond.

PS....CAT controls seem foreign after some time with Deere controls. I wasted some diesel a few hours ago moving some schlop. However, that "flaw" is WAY eclipsed by the sheer power of that machine. It makes my BH90X seem like a bent spoon......Look at the smile on Nicola's face!

 

[IXLR8]

I was wondering why I didn't see your orange beast in any of these pictures?

 

[deputyrpa]

I was wondering why I didn't see your orange beast in any of these pictures?

Uh...it would have gotten stuck?

Or.....I didn't want to get it dirty?

Umm.....I didn't want to upstage the D4?

How am I doing?

 

[JonKioti]

Wow, I didn't get a feel for the true size until one of your pictures with everyone standing at the top edge. I'd love to have that amount of space.

I will be putting in a second pond someday, this time with a liner. My first was dug in an area that always had water in it, but it tends to dry up in the late summer. I didn't have my CK-20 for the first one, so the next one will be different.

Please keep the pictures coming - it's great to see everyone's projects!

Jon

 

[Gittyup]

Me too! Love the Zappa avatar. He is at his best when not singing. One of my favorite muscians though, especially Waka Jawaka. Funny, you wouldn't think of Zappa being liked by a bunch of tractor guys.

Nice pond project too.

 

[deputyrpa]

Wow, I didn't get a feel for the true size until one of your pictures with everyone standing at the top edge. I'd love to have that amount of space.

I will be putting in a second pond someday, this time with a liner. My first was dug in an area that always had water in it, but it tends to dry up in the late summer. I didn't have my CK-20 for the first one, so the next one will be different.

Please keep the pictures coming - it's great to see everyone's projects!

Jon

It looks small without water in it, but it's about 1/3 of an acre. It may get to be 1/2 acre when we're done....who knows? Digging is fun!

You are going to dig you pond with your CK? My advice is to plan your excavation procedure carefully. You don't want to handle the material many times over. Dig it when the area is at it's driest. Have fun!!

 

[deputyrpa]

Me too! Love the Zappa avatar. He is at his best when not singing. One of my favorite muscians though, especially Waka Jawaka. Funny, you wouldn't think of Zappa being liked by a bunch of tractor guys.
QUOTE]

 

[streamin]

I'm not sure I understand about why you can't make it deeper? The clay is too tough to dig or you want to keep it?

 

[deputyrpa]

I'm not sure I understand about why you can't make it deeper? The clay is too tough to dig or you want to keep it?

First, the clay is the water-confining layer. Without it, we could lose the ability to hold water in the pond. Second, it's at least six feet thick and really soft. It could be much thicker. You can lose that 38 ton machine in it. Even several feet of overburden will not help that much, because it's wet. We're not taking the chance to lose a $250,000 machine.

That clay will not stop that machine - not much would. See the pic. We removed about 2' of it because we could reach that far. Then he put a foot of gravel over the top so the clay will be less likely to suspend in the water column.