To Backhoe or not to Backhoe

[rademamj1]

I have four water retention ponds on my 27 acres, and the smallest is 75 feet in diameter, and eight feet deep. Your not going to dig that big of a rentention pond with just a backhoe. If you need the backhoe, make the backhoe purchase for any French drains, culverts and other useful projects. But I recommend for a retention pond, just rent a tracked skid steer for a week to move that much dirt or even hire an expert in retention pond construction, and he will probably use a bulldozer.

 

[EddieWalker]

... The pond dimensions would be about 20' x 20' x 4'-6' deep. ...I'd like it to be more contained and limit the amount of erosion we battle....

Looking at your picture, and how nice your land is, and the fact that you have a large pond already, this really sounds like a bad idea. How bad is the erosion issue and can it be solved by adding rock or riprap, or something to slow down the speed of the water? Do you have any pictures of the erosion that is the problem?

Digging a ditch to divert water may very likely create more erosion.

Building a small pond to catch water before it goes into the big pond, and control erosion sounds like a silt catch basin that will fill up really quickly with silt. Any and all loose soil above that pond will end up in the pond, and with it being so small and shallow, it could easily fill up with silt in a year.