Using a Well to Feed New Pond/Lining Pond

[MOZSVATH]

I had a small pond (about 1/4 acre) dug over the summer and I would like to have a well dug to keep it filled. Can anyone suggest for me what type of system (well, float valve, etc) I should invest in to have success with this? Also it turns out my soil does not hold water very well. I have two large burms directing rainwater into it when it rains. It does get some decent water collected each time we have a heavy rain, but it soaks in. I am planning to have someone come and line it with 6" of clay all over. Do you think this will do the job? I am familiar with Bentonite, but that is so expensive. I am hoping the clay will do the job. Any suggestions or ideas would be great. Thanks a lot.
Matt

 

[Deere Dude]

That sounds like an interesting project. I have no answers just some thoughts. Just curious, how deep is the well? Are you sure that it is just not a bad year for holding water? The ground is so dry, at least here, that any rain now hardly does anything to my pond. I have a 100' diameter pond about 13' of water in the spring. Now it must have dropped to 3-4 feet because of the drought, so basically I have water table water. If the water table is down, the pond is down.

I just have to wait for mother nature. unless you have a spring, which it doesn't sound like you have, because it would take forever to fill it with a well, and super expensive. I filled a 28' swimming pool with a well and a few hoses and if I remember it took a day or two, that was quite a long time ago. I can't imagine filling a dry 1/4 acre hole with a well, and then have it not hold anyway or have it equalize with the water table.

I like your idea of putting a clay liner in it for now. That would be a good place to start, and then see what happens with mother nature.

 

[dave1949]

You may find the pond bottom will seal itself overtime, or not. Fine sediments and organic material like leaves and algae will sometimes seal the pond bottom surface over a couple of years.

Another option besides clay or bentonite is pond liner fabric. Here is an example: Firestone Pond Liners | Pondliner.com Multiple widths can be glued together to cover large areas. Not sure how the cost would compare, but it's worth checking into.

I have a rain catchment pond, also about 1/4 acre. It is dug down to rock about everywhere which varies from 5' to 14'. Every year has been different in terms of how much water it loses over the summer dry period. Summer before last, it was down to a big puddle in just the deepest part, this year it was only down about 4'. It all depends on the timing of the rain and how much the weather favors high rates of evaporation.

A lot depends on what you what to accomplish with the pond. If you want to have fish, then you need to keep the water deep enough to stay cool and aerated so the oxygen level doesn't drop too low. Colder water can hold more oxygen than warm.

If it just for wildlife, the fluctuating water depth makes it difficult for the plants that grow in shallow water to establish themselves. Sometimes they are where they want to be and sometimes they are left high and dry for 4-6 weeks.

I don't think I would invest in a well until you are satisfied the pond is holding water reasonably well. It's also possible you are asking for too much in the sense that your surface drainage area is not large enough supply the pond size. In that case, I think it would be better to have a smaller pond that has a stable water level than a large pond that does not.

 

[LBrown59]

I had a small pond (about 1/4 acre) dug over the summer and I would like to have a well dug to keep it filled. Can anyone suggest for me what type of system (well, float valve, etc) I should invest in to have success with this? Also it turns out my soil does not hold water very well. I have two large burms directing rainwater into it when it rains. It does get some decent water collected each time we have a heavy rain, but it soaks in. I am planning to have someone come and line it with 6" of clay all over. Do you think this will do the job? I am familiar with Bentonite, but that is so expensive. I am hoping the clay will do the job. Any sug
gestions or ideas would be great. Thanks a lot.
Matt

How do you know that a well will have enough out put to fill a pond ???

 

[Lou66]

Most ponds will seal themselves over a period of couple of years,, whom ever dug the pond should have installed layer of clay,, I don t have any ponds on my land,, instead I had wells drilled,, 4 inch, I get about 30gpm with no head pressure, 220v, one and half hp pump.. if it ran full time 24hr aday it would put out about 45000 gpd, now a quarter acre pond, at 6 feet deep average, 100x100x6x7.4=440000.. so a well like I have running full time would make up about 11% of the total every day,, or it would fill it every 9 days.. based on the evaporation rate, humidity, heat index, uses, plus leak lost,, it would more than likely keep up.
Bad news,, I run my pump with a 10,000 watt gasoline generator/ welder,, it uses about one gallon of gas an hour,, 24hrx3.50 a gallon gas x 9 days= 756 dollars every 9 days.. I only run it about two hour a week to fill the water tanks for the cows.. I know his is no help but I am retired and have nothing better to do.. Lou

 

[mickd]

Matt, I dug a small pond on our property in Bedford county,it's fed by a nearby creek . The area is rocky creek bottom , at first it leaked like a sive and the incoming water from the creek was'nt enough to keep it full. Eventually we drained it and a local excavator brought in a couple tri axles of clay, spread and compacted it . We since have been able to maintain good water level when the creek is running well. I expect the clay sealed about 90 % of the area. A nearby camp has put in 2 ponds
and had the same excavator line his with clay with about the same results. I'd try the clay, if your soil is less rocky than ours in Bedford county, you may achieve even better containment. Good luck let us know how your project turns out.

 

[Fossil Farm]

Well drilling around here is roughly $35 a foot. Add a pump, electric (or generator), etc. and you have a pretty good investment. The water pulled from the well is usually drinkable for livestock, humans or for raising crops. Depending on your groundwater capacities, you may end up wasting a lot of water just to fill a pond. As others have said and your idea of lining the pond with clay would probably be the better choice for you. That is a fairly small pond, so hopefully you can get a few loads of clay reasonably priced. It probably would be cheaper and better in the long run to line the pond than pulling out groundwater for years and years to come. Good luck.

 

[Grumpy Old Man]

I had a small pond (about 1/4 acre) dug over the summer and I would like to have a well dug to keep it filled. Can anyone suggest for me what type of system (well, float valve, etc) I should invest in to have success with this? Also it turns out my soil does not hold water very well. I have two large burms directing rainwater into it when it rains. It does get some decent water collected each time we have a heavy rain, but it soaks in. I am planning to have someone come and line it with 6" of clay all over. Do you think this will do the job? I am familiar with Bentonite, but that is so expensive. I am hoping the clay will do the job. Any suggestions or ideas would be great. Thanks a lot.
Matt

sounds like its time for a liner and a windmill to pump free water from a well ,all that sounds like $10,000.00

 

[radioman]

I am a bit skeptical on this a little bit. You said a well dug -- doesnt sound like drilled which is whole different meaning. If you cant keep a pond filled, if it drains like a sieve, a dug well might be a bad thing to try to do. If I were you - I'd find out how low does water table get near the pond where you want the well to be. If it deeper then a small excavator can dig, then a drilled well is best option, but that means money. Are you sure you have no clay elsewhere on your property ?

 

[Oldawg]

Love your Whizzer motorbike picture! There were several of us had them way back in the day. Those things got me started on big bikes!