bindian
Super Member
That all sounds good. How big is the watershed? Mine overflows with a good rain and surrounded by trees. Maybe not as many as you had before clearing.
Building Lake Corona
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bindian
Super Member
Oh wow, that ain't much watershed. I figure my watershed is around a couple of hundred acres. Have you thought about building berms to direct runoff into the pond, after all the clearing?
Everything runs to the pond that's been cleared. It can't go anywhere else. I can probably add another 5 acres but don't really want watershed from our beanfield into the pond. I'll see what happens next year. All of the watershed is pretty steep which will also help as long as I can keep the soil stable.
bindian
Super Member
Stable soil should me goal #1 now.
EddieWalker
Epic Contributor
Something isn't adding up. From what I'm seeing in your pictures, and what you're saying about the amount of rain that you are getting, I would expect that pond to fill up easily.
I agree that land with trees in it will hold more water then pasture will, but that's mostly on flat to gently sloping land. Your valley is too steep for that to be a significant issue.
The most obvious concern is if the dam is leaking? I think that would be obvious by looking at the other side, which I'm sure you've done many times.
Did you dig a keyway when building the dam?
Second concern, is there a leak that's off to the side of the dam? Tree roots are famous for this. But gopher holes, or whatever else digs in the ground can create a path for water to follow too. Probably the most common, and hardest to find is a crack in the ground that's caused by rock, gravel, sand or just some random thing that happens to the soil.
I would be looking along the edge of the water for anything at all that might suggest water is getting into the soil there. Also looking all over the downward part of the valley, past the dam might show a wet area that shouldn't be there. I've seen water leaks from pipes that showed up a hundred yards away from where the pipe was leaking. Odd things happen underground!!!!!
I agree that land with trees in it will hold more water then pasture will, but that's mostly on flat to gently sloping land. Your valley is too steep for that to be a significant issue.
The most obvious concern is if the dam is leaking? I think that would be obvious by looking at the other side, which I'm sure you've done many times.
Did you dig a keyway when building the dam?
Second concern, is there a leak that's off to the side of the dam? Tree roots are famous for this. But gopher holes, or whatever else digs in the ground can create a path for water to follow too. Probably the most common, and hardest to find is a crack in the ground that's caused by rock, gravel, sand or just some random thing that happens to the soil.
I would be looking along the edge of the water for anything at all that might suggest water is getting into the soil there. Also looking all over the downward part of the valley, past the dam might show a wet area that shouldn't be there. I've seen water leaks from pipes that showed up a hundred yards away from where the pipe was leaking. Odd things happen underground!!!!!
dodge man
Super Star Member
You should have roughly 10 acres of runoff for a 1 acre pond. That’s a very rough number. I’d guess the runoff area is borderline for the pond size. I live in Western Illinois and it’s been dry here also so I cam imagine it’s similar there.
Eddie believe me I understand. I thought the same thing and looking at it thought 9 acres of watershed was plenty given the terrain. I was scratching my head on why it was not filling until I finally walked the pond during a heavy rainfall. The surrounding timber is like a sponge when walking on it.. Several inches of just leaves and very soft soil. Even with a heavy rain there is not a significant amount of runoff. There is just a small amount of water running the ravines into the pond. I think the most I have ever gained in 1 rain event is 2 ft and that was 4" of rain in a short timeframe. There is no change in water level during a normal rain. It takes a 3"+ rain to gain any amount of water to speak of. It's not that it's filling then quickly receding, it's just not getting enough watershed to to make a significant gain when it rains. When I only gain 6 inches during a decent rain it's just not enough if the next good rain comes 3 or 4 weeks later. I've measured over the last year and a rainfall of 2" will raise the pond 1ft. An inch of rain does nothing. And that gets smaller as it climbs the banks and increases in surface area. Runoff is the issue. Can't blame a leak when it doesn't fill in the first place.
Correct and from what Im reading that doubles to 20 to 1 for timber. I thought the steepness of the terrain would overcome that but I was wrong which is why I'm now working to thin everything out enough to promote grass cover surrounding the pond.
dodge man
Super Star Member
In the engineering world there are runoff coefficients. They vary from 0.15 to 0.95. Concrete and asphalt would be 0.95 which means 95% of the water runs off. It seems like it should be 100% but it doesn’t quite work that way. I would bet your heavy timber is closer to the 15% range. You’ve probably also discovered if you get something like a quarter of inch of rain it doesn’t even hardly get the ground under the trees wet, let alone runoff.