Creating a Lake

[Buck]

Keep me posted. I love projects like this one. Seems perfect.

What are the deminsions of the lake when finished? How dry does it get in Tyler in July, and what impact will that have on your lake?

 

[2nstonge]

You, Mr. Eddie Walker, are an ANIMAL! "got some free time so I thought I would build a LAKE". Me? I get some free time and I might take out the trash, maybe get the mail. Unbelievable. Looks like a great project, though, and I bet your dreaming of the day you can float around in your rowboat with your girlfriend and your beverage of choice...

Have a ball doing it! -Norm

 

[DannyD]

I think you should be on the end of the hoe and she should be on the tractor...........

just kicking around, great project. I wish I had the ground to make a pond that big, actually one of any size.

 

[goodoleboy]

Thnaks for all the good pics. Gotta love that red texas soil!

 

[gotrocks]

<font color="blue"> My property line is the middle of this creek. It flows year round, but since I only own half of it, I can't dam it. </font>

Good Morning Eddie,
I enjoy looking at GOOD pictures on TBN. Your project is very interesting, wish I lived closer so I could watch.
Several year ago we visited a friend in VA and there was a neighbor that had a very nice pond that was fed with a 4 inch PVC placed in a stream that flowed year round. Since he did not dam it and the overflow went back into the stream it seems like something like this might work. Just a thought, don't know your exact topo situation. Good luck.
God Bless US All. Norris

 

[MarkV]

Eddie, I had to laugh when I saw the title to your post. Fishman, one of our TBN members, is a biologist with a pond management business in Texas. He has helped me tremendously with a bunch of pond questions the last two years. At one point I ask him at what size does a pond become a lake. He said that when a client wants to call it a lake it becomes a lake. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Are you going to tap into the stream as a water source or will it be filled by runoff? Are permits an issue in your area when putting in a lake? Around here the government likes to get involved when it comes to diverting the natural water courses. Do your homework on the dam building. It can get a lot more involved than just pushing up dirt and a dam failure can leave you responsible for damaged caused down stream.

There is a good pond/lake site with some helpful people at www.PONDBOSS.COM you might want to look at.

Sure looks like fun and I hope you will keep us updated as you progress.

MarkV

 

[Holzster]

Eddie

Looks great - makes me jealous of all the "toys" you have. BUT I can admit that - so I guess that is the first step of recovery!!

 

[kensfarm]

Not to be a downer on your Lake building.. but.. as soon as you started draining that swamp area.. you are probably already in violation of some federal laws.. the EPA.. DNR.. will have a field day w/ you. The dam would probably have to be approved by the Army Corps Engineers. Plus it will depend on geological & soil type conditions on your land that would even make it feasable.. will it hold water? The dam would be a entire different story altogether.. you can't just pile dirt up and pack it.. it has to be engineered for the amound of water that would be behind it. The permit approval process will probably take years & some big $.

Even if you stop now & apply for the permits.. they'll come out and see what you've already done.. and start slapping on the fines. Most areas require a permit for an inground pool..
just think what they'll want for a lake.. good luck & def. seek legal council before getting yourself in too deep.

Edit: They'll probably start w/ fines on all the tree clearing you've done in the flood zone.. a permit is usually required for clearing after you reach a certain number of square feet.
You might be in for a rude wakeup call if one of your neighbor's puts in a call. Best of luck!

 

[Darren]

I don't think the Corps is going to bite him on the **** for that. The smart thing to do would be to talk to the local soil conservation district and discuss the feasibility of a dam at his location. They're tied into the National Resource Conservation Service which can provide engineering services at little or no cost. They'll also have soil maps which can help determine feasibility.

The major issue is how much water he's going to impound and what happens downstream if the dam breaks. For most ponds, there's not enough water to cause a problem. I've always thought of a lake as much bigger than a pond. A pond designed by the NRCS has to have a spillway to prevent the dam from being washed out. I've got a 1/4 acre pond that was built by the Soil Conservation Service before we bought the property. My guess is that it went in thirty years ago. even at that time they designed and built a spillway to prevent water from overtopping the dam. Since then state laws about dam safety have gotten more stringent. Several communities in this area with lakes formed by dams were put into a put up or shut down mode recently. One spent big bucks to fix problems found in an inspection. The other entity, a water board, sold a 650 acre parcel with a large lake (60-100 acres) to avoid the cost of fixing the problem. The property was prime for development but with the required dam repairs the sale netted less than $200K. Whoever bought it was looking at a million plus for repairs.

If the project won't put anyone at risk down stream, that's a huge plus. The wetland is another issue. That one can bite him in the ****.

 

[EddieWalker]

I met Fishman, AKA John, at the first Norte Tejas get together and I'm hoping he makes it to the next one in April. I'll probably bring a notebook just to pick everyones minds.

I think Pondboss is an excellent website. I've been reading articles there for the past two years. I'm just not much of a poster on that site.

I grew up in California and learned allot of what I'm doing from a friend with a ranch in the Bay Area. Life there was a constant battle with big brother and every agency they can invent. Sometimes we'd get new departments that were just invented to spend budget money and needed a cause to justify their existence. I've been involved in Salamander studies along with a few other species that didn't exist on the property, but "might have at one time."

Here in Texas, things are different. I'm outside city limits and can do pretty much what I want on my land. No permits.

After I finish clearing the brush and timber around the perimiter of the lake site, I'll start digging my key way.

Maximum height of the dam will be 8 feet for a short distance, with the majority of it being 6 feet tall. The top will be 8 feet wide and I'll have a 3:1 slope on both sides.

My key trench will be four feet deep and twelve feet wide. I'll use my backhoe and the dump truck I'm gonna buy to compact it. The dozer doesn't put as much preasure down on the ground to give me as much compaction as the wheels do.

Top soil at the dam location will be moved aside until I hit clay. Most clay is just a few inches down. The dirt from the key trench will also be moved aside and later reused as oustide slope material.

In 1942 the US Army built a rifle range on my land. To maintain a level shooting position, they built up these huge berms for the soldiers to shoot from. They are six hundred feet long, 20 feet wide and perfectly flat on top regardless of the slope of the land.

The photo is of the 200 yard shooting position. It ends at the beginning of my dam. It's somehting I was planning in my layout.

The dirt used to build these things is just amazing. It holds extremely well. I have to use the dozer or backhoe to break it free to load it. Then it compacts again unlike any of my other clay soil. In other words, it will be incredible building material.

I don't know the final dimensions yet, but can guess from my topo map that I'm in the three acre range.

The creek wont' work for siphoning off water to keep it filled. The bottom of the lake will be about two feet above the normal creek level. My water shed to feed the lake is in the 40 to 50 acre range. I will also add a shallow well down the road to bring in water during the summer months.