How best to dam a creek?????

[deezler]

Be positive.
Never know till you try!

Lol. Sounds like an expensive gambit. Would almost have to make a dam out of sticks first, so they can see the goal and then improve from there.

Whats kind of funny is that I do get naturally occurring log-jam dams in my creek periodically, that can hold back up to 1-2 ft of water. They eventually get broken apart or undermined.

 

[EddieWalker]

On our place is a nice long spring fed creek that flows even during a drought and there are three springs along it here. One is eroding the pasture making a bowl shaped area. Creek is about 8-9 ft. down below ground level, bowl area is about 40 ft. across. I was showing it to a neighbor a few days ago who said why not dam it below bowl and what a great swimming hole. The creek bed is rock. Downstream aways I put in a 5ft culvert, compacted dirt then gravel for a drive across, below that aways is a ford, railroad ballast either side.
First I'd have to winch out some trees I tossed over into it (easy job), then I'm trying to figure out how to dam it. I can easily get my 4x4 truck to it, but not a tandem dump truck.
Any ideas best way to dam it are appreciated.
Writing this I'm thinking I do have pvc pipe sections maybe in first for water flow, install dam then cap pipes? If I just dump in a lot of rip-rap it wouldn't be water tight.
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If this was my land, I think that I would use concrete sacks to build the dam. I would stack them on top of each other and run rebar through the sacks to hold them all together. This is very common for building retaining walls. Since running water is the biggest issue, I would slope both sides of the dam with concrete sacks too. If every sack overlaps another sack, I think it will plug itself up with silt over time, as the sacks cure. I wouldn't care if it leaked a little. That might even be good to keep the water flowing in the creek, and clean out silt from building up over time. The main thing is that water needs to be able to run over it during heavy rains.

 

[2manyrocks]

I'm still puzzled why you want to do all this hard work?

 

[Larry Caldwell]

You will need a permit from the US Army Corps of Engineers and possibly also your county. Your overflow will depend on maximum storm flow rate, but from the looks you will need at least a 4' diameter pipe or reinforce the top of the dam with concrete.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Great...Who the (bleep) will know?
We shoot trespassers...

Log on to your county GIS system. They have high rez aerial photos of the whole county and would see any changes with a year to year overlay.

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

I'm still puzzled why you want to do all this hard work?

I hate TVs & recliners.

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

Log on to your county GIS system. They have high rez aerial photos of the whole county and would see any changes with a year to year overlay.

 

[paulsharvey]

Log on to your county GIS system. They have high rez aerial photos of the whole county and would see any changes with a year to year overlay.

Yes and no. Generally, they would only look into it based on a public complaint. Your local city/county/water management district has better things to do than stare at aerials to look for minor changes over hundreds of square miles constantly.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Yes and no. Generally, they would only look into it based on a public complaint. Your local city/county/water management district has better things to do then start are aerials to look for minor changes over hundreds of square miles constantly.

The county assessor would be interested, and departments normally talk to each other.

 

[gstrom99]

Any downstream "users" of this water? Flow would only be interrupted until the "swimming hole" is filled in. Once it is, downstream flow will resume, assuming the incoming flow overcomes the pond leakage. Prepare your overflow spillway well. If there are no downstream complaints, odds are you'd be okay.

There is a saying that comes to mind: "It's easier to ask for forgiveness, than permission".