Creating a Lake

[patrick_g]

Eddie, If most of the lake is less than 8 ft deep aeration is not going to do as much for you. If you have a significant portion that is or will be over 8 ft deep you have more use for aeration. The deeper water may become oxygen depleted and will not sustain aquatic life with an oxygen requirement. This will remove that portion from production.

An aerator like I mentioned from Atwoods would help add O2 and stir things up besides looking neat.

Pat

 

[KentT]

Wow! It's filling up fast now! Maybe too fast for your comfort...

Eddie, I wasn't talking about specifically reseeding the runoff areas, but more about the lakeshore itself, especially above your anticipated high-water line. However, I have been sowing down areas in the runoff/watershed that I know I'll be tearing up later -- usually sown in wheat/annual rye, to get something that'll sprout and grow very fast until I come back and tear it up again. If it's an area that I won't be tearing up again, I've been sowing a mixture of annual rye and fescue. The annual rye for fast cover and the fescue for the permanent grass. Will fescue grow that far south? If so, I think it would work much better than bermuda for covering your lakeshores. It doesn't make quite as nice a looking "lawn" since it is a coarser grass, but it doesn't go completely dormant in the winter, nor does it turn completely brown. It also will eventually make a VERY tough sod that is impervious to erosion -- it would be great stuff for your spillway and the backside of the dam next to the creek -- if it will grow that far south...

Speaking of the backside of the dam and the creek, with all the flooding you're experiencing now, that creek bank may be a good place to put some of the broken concrete also. Rip-rap down through there would likely make you feel better about the creek flooding and weakening or undercutting your dam from the back... You've likely already thought of that, I'm sure.

 

[Defective]

Do you know anyone that doesn't love a lake?

Yes...but nobody I'd spend time with...

 

[mudcat]

WOW! That is a lot of run off. Wasn't the yardsick at 26" yesterday? At this rate you will be full in no time!

 

[EddieWalker]

Pat,

Thank you for that information. Most of the lake is right at 8feet deep, but that's when it's full to the overflow. My guess is that I'll be a foot or two low most of the time., so my average depth will be less than 8 feet most of the year.

One thint I've been told is that if there isn't enough oxygen in the water, the fish will come to the surface to get air. I've seen this in smaller ponds and it looks like the fish are coming up to swollow air.

Kent,

We're talking about the same things. I seeded the dam and shoreline with Bermuda seed. This is one of the few areas on my land that's actually done, so I wanted to get grass growing as soon as possible.

The areas that I'm working on would be a waste to seed it because of all the dirt I'm moveing. Some areas will be cut down several feet, others will be built up a few feet. Very little will be left along. hahaha

Mudcat,

Yes, the water level has gone up over 17 inches in one day!!!!

According to what I see online, an acre inch of water is 27,154.25 gallons. The lake is 4.3 acres when full. Since I'm not full and the surface area is smaller than that, I'll use 4 acres to be safe. 17 inches of water times 4 acres comes to 1,846,489 gallons just today!!!!

Eddie

 

[john_bud]

Eddie,

Wow, that creek is sure close to the dam. Remember a few hundred posts ago there was discussion on how a dam works and the reason the dam needs to be above the water line? Just looking at the picture, it seems the dam could be a bit taller with that creek so full!

Now that the pond is about full, I guess you will be showing us photos of the overflow pretty soon?

Oh, and stop doing that rain dance!

jb

 

[mjarrels]

Eddie,

With all that rain and mud... should be seeing another posting of how did you get unstuck from the mud if you attempt using heavy equipment?

mark

 

[Tim_in_IA]

Speaking of the backside of the dam and the creek, with all the flooding you're experiencing now, that creek bank may be a good place to put some of the broken concrete also. Rip-rap down through there would likely make you feel better about the creek flooding and weakening or undercutting your dam from the back... You've likely already thought of that, I'm sure.

I agree. This is one rainstorm. If you get a series of bad weather and that creek stays up it could undercut the dam. Armoring ("rip-rap") may help prevent the water from cutting in, but when water can't cut in it also speeds up so the stream could cut down or change its path entirely.

Another concern I would have is the 50 and 100 year flood heights of the water in that area. Do you have any flood plain maps that show where the water normally would go in case of a severe flood? You would want the dam taller than that. Also may need to lengthen the dam to act as a levee where required. You've probably looked into all this though, just thinking out loud here.

Really looks great seeing that lake grow!

 

[Darla]

Wow, what a long thread!! Beautiful work Eddie! Thanks for sharing.

 

[EddieWalker]

You guys bring up some very valid concerns about the creek and it's potential damage. I really had hoped to have a good cover of bermuda grass over the dam when a storm of this level hit. Unfortunately it didn't work out that way. Now I'm relying on the compaction of the dam, and hopeing that the water doesn't get much higher.

When I built the dam, and decided on this area, it was because it sat in the hundred year flood plane. I knew I couldn't do anything else with the land there because of the possibility of flooding. The dam height was partially determined because I wanted it to be higher than the flood waters could ever get. Across the creek, the land is also in the hundred year flood plane and it will flood first and absorb all the water long before it ever reached the bottom of the dam.

I have had a fear of this day when I built the dam and it's part of the reason it's so much bigger than it needed to be just to hold back the water inside the lake. Apperances were an even larger reason, but that creak has had me very apprehensive right from the begining. If I can see some areas that I can add more dirt to build up the dam even more, than I wll. My inspection will be very thorough when the storm passes.

In those pictures, the water is still well under the base of the dam. One thing that suprised me is that the water along the dam isn't moving. There is no current on that water. The current is all in the creekbed. I don't know if this is normal, or if my trees along the creek are having some effect, or if the water that goes above the creek and spreads out so wide also just slows down dramaticly.

There are some surprises that I wasn't expecting, but overall, it's working very nicely.

The big surprises are what's happening down stream past the dam. I know the flood plane is all along the creek, but one of my roads that I've been clearing for my cabins is a foot under water for almost 100 feet. I knew there was a low spot that would need a culvert, but what's in there now is more than I had ever imagined. I need to rethink this road and start building it up several feet with fill.

Thanks for all your concern,
Eddie