Want to make a pond - Advice Needed

[tjc1989]

I'm considering making a pond on my gently sloping land. It is about 1 to 2 feet of sand over clay. It would depend entirely on rain run-off if there ever was any. I was thinking I would like to make a dam about 100 to 150 feet wide, crescent shaped and the pond to be about 100 feet long, at least the moved earth area. If it had water, and depending on the height of the dam and depth beneath the dam, it might be a bigger area than that, once full. I have a Branson 4220i with FEL and bucket, and a 5 foot box blade with scarifiers. Slope of the land is maybe 10 to 15 feet in 500. Any advice on how to proceed and any experiences with known pitfalls??

 

[PineRidge]

The 1st thing that I would do is have some testing done to be sure that you have the correct soil under your sand to hold water.

In my case clay had to be moved from one part of the property to the pond site to establish the base.

Even with good clay our pond level drops approx. 6-8 inches in the dry months but recovers in the fall and spring when the snow melts.

Make sure your watershed (ground run-off) will support your planned pond or you're wasting time and effort.

In our case they brought in a mini-excavator and dug lots of test holes on different parts of the property to check for drainage, or lack of it after a good rain.

Good luck in your efforts.

Welcome to TBN!

 

[kossetx]

My advice on how to procede is get a knowlegeable dozer operator out there and pay them to do it. They will be able to tell if your soil will hold water and know where to place the dam, dig etc. Trying to move that much dirt with your tractor is almost impossible. Not impossible, but it will take an awful long time.

 

[CharlieTR]

I would talk to the soil conservation people at the USDA. They can tell you the best place, if permits are required, if easements are required and how to avoid easements. You don't want to be forced into getting an easement.
You must have an easement if you alter the nature course of the rainfall/water drainage (after water leaves pond) and it goes to you neighbor when before the pond it would not naturally go to neighbor's land.
Many other rules for ponds. How many acres of drainage will flow into pond?
If more than 40 I think that becomes a real big deal. I read on another post that you need a 404 permit and Army Corp of Engineers to build it or plan it.
I am not real sure about this 40 acres, so you'll might check it out. Those soil guys can tell by sat photos if your soil is good for ponds, and number of acres draining, etc. They will also pay 50% of the pond (based on their pricing) thru the EQIP program. I think you need to use pond for livestock though.

 

[TexasSD]

I just had my pond built a couple of months ago. It's nowhere near the size your talking about, but we had two D6's come out and they had it all done in 1.5 days, along with clearing all the scrub trees around it and burying all the junk from the family dump over the last 30 years.

I'm glad I didn't do it myself! they removed all the top soil, spread the clay, engineered the dam and spillway and made sure it wouldn't flood my driveway when full.

I'd have spent months on the project, not to mention the wear and tear on me and the equipment I'd have.

So, here's another vote for letting someone with the right equipment and experience build your pond!

Good Luck,


Scott

 

[dirtworksequip]

You will have a dry hole if you depend on rain only. You need a spring to keep it full, otherwise it will only have water in it after a rain. Then it will evaporate at a higher rate than it is replenished by rainfall. If you don't have another source other than rainfall forget the pond.

 

[PineRidge]

You will have a dry hole if you depend on rain only. You need a spring to keep it full, otherwise it will only have water in it after a rain. Then it will evaporate at a higher rate than it is replenished by rainfall. If you don't have another source other than rainfall forget the pond.

That's simply not the case.

A lot of ponds that were engineered properly will funnel rain from the watershed (A ridge between two areas that directs drainage.) to the pond to keep it full year round.

We also funneled the rainwater off the roof of the house to the pond, you'de be amazed at how well that works.

We used an engineer to tell us where, and direct the excavators in the correct construction of the pond.

We have never had a fish kill because of a loss of water and only in the driest months of the year will the pond drop a couple of inches before quickly recovering after the rains start again.

Our pond is now 8 years old and still healthy with some catfish weighing in at over 10 pounds.

A pond without a spring can and will work if built properly.