Creating a Lake

Cliff_Johns · Jan 24, 2006

( I guess you are trying to be funny Cliff. )

I do apologize for having offended you. The statement was meant strictly as commiseration for the situation having seen so many posts about it here.

( But I see that many of your posts have misplaced humor. )

I honestly had no idea I was considered an offensive member of TBN.

My apologies to all, especially Eddie for aparently stinking up his thread.

I'll be quiet now.

Cliff

mudcat · Jan 24, 2006

Cliff, I do not feel you are offensive. I think you are a model TBN member. Mr. Rob seems a little "sensitive" when it comes to TEXAS. Comments such as that should be ignored. Your input is valued here. I would hate for you not to participate because of another member's EGO. Quiet? No way, let us hear you!

shadoe · Jan 24, 2006

Eddie, this is an amazing project that I just came across! You are awesome!! /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif
Your girl is awesomer though...is that a word??? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif Just kidding brother.
Can't wait to get some time to go through entire thread again! Good luck!!!!!!!!!!!

ps. Cliff, I've never read anything from you that was even close to bothersome.

jinman · Jan 25, 2006

Cliff, I don't think your post was offensive in any way. It's the truth that Texas is a state of extremes. With coastline, plains, mountains, and desert we have every possible situation. We know that today the rains may be rare, but even hurricane Rita's path a few months ago was devastating with wind and rain. All the while, my ponds and lake have more air than water just as your post stated. As many pictures as we Texans post, you surely must feel like you are right here sometimes. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

...and your humor. You've given me many wry smiles because you have a turn of phrase that points out subtle irony in many situations. Please don't quit. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

RobJ · Jan 25, 2006

( Cliff, I do not feel you are offensive. I think you are a model TBN member. Mr. Rob seems a little "sensitive" when it comes to TEXAS. Comments such as that should be ignored. Your input is valued here. I would hate for you not to participate because of another member's EGO. Quiet? No way, let us hear you! )

Ego? hey I wans't even born in Texas, no Texas colleges. Mr. Rob is mostly defending (or sensitive to) the folks that are in a serious situation with the water. It's not joked about around here. With the water problem there is also a hay problem. But since you are not here you don't fully see what is happening.

The water is a not problem for me or most of the weekenders who just play on our tractors for fun. But a lot of my friends up there who rely on cattle sales for some income.

And Cliff, keep the informative posts coming. May it's just your dry sense of humer, pardon the pun. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

JustGary · Jan 25, 2006

"How much water preasure would the lake have?" 

Water has a weight of one atmosphere (14.7 PSI) every 32.2 feet deeper you go. So for example, a 15' lake will have about 7 PSI at the bottom.

I think that the best way to look at it is that a spring is a drain and a drain is a spring. If you put enough water on top of your spring, you end up with a drain. But, it won't drain any deeper than the natural level of your spring. Since the level is still rising, you may be in luck.

If you choose to not plug the spring, you should expect that the water level will vary a lot more from season to season and from year to year since your lake is connected to the rest of your region's drainage via underground channels. Far away events could bring you more or less water, and it will be hard to correlate the cause and effect.

With the spring plugged you simply rely on local surface drainage to fill your lake, but you could miss out on having at least some lake during another drought like this one.

Either way, you can see how hard it would be to plug the spring if you wait until it's really deep and then decide to do it. I know you want to decide soon.

It's not like you have a "gusher" or anything, so if you expect enough surface drainage to fill your lake and still have a decent outflow, perhaps the spring won't matter at all. After a few years it will probably silt in and plug itself anyway. At this slow fill rate, I'd level the ground back in and ignore whatever is left of the spring and press on with the lake.

While I'm typing, I've enjoyed following your great posts on all of your hard work. I want to build a small pond one day, and just can't seem to get off my duff and do it. You're a great inspiration!

Good Luck.

- Just Gary

Renze · Jan 26, 2006

If you're not sure if it's a spring or a drain here's an idea:

Maybe you could dig it out into the gravel, then install a big pipe, backfill with solid clay around the pipe to seal off the rest of the wet hole.

The pipe must extend into the air to the water level you have in mind for your future pond. If there's enough pressure on the spring it will feed the pond. If not, only the water in the pipe may drop, this prevents your pond from draining into the spring.

Just an idea... just no spring in the next 300 km from my place though... /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

EddieWalker · Feb 2, 2006

Just Gary,

I'm still waiting to see watching the spring. Since we've just been through the second dryest year on record, I'm thinking the table water is gonna be at it's lowest. Before the rains, the level was rising steadily. Now that we've received a few inches of rain, (around 6 inches as of today) I'm inclined to believe that the table water should rise.

Of course, I can be totally wrong on this too and have to deal with it when it's gonna be allot harder and more dificult.

Renze,

The pipe idea has had me talking to everyone I know about it. It's briliant!!! Thanks. Now I need to make a decision to either put one in, or continue to procrastinate. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

Eddie

EddieWalker · Feb 2, 2006

Here's a picture of the area of the spring that I dug up. It's 12 feet deep in one corner, but the rest is 4 feet deep.

If you look real close to the bottom, left side of the spring, you'll notice the flow of water overflowing down to the lake bottom.

Eddie

EddieWalker · Feb 2, 2006

This is the lowest part of the lake at 12 feet. It will be the last part of the dam to be finished and until then I have a ditch dug down to the creek to keep it drained.

The rains have filled left over a foot of water in the bottom that was below where I stoped digging the drain. The spring is also adding to this level.

I extened the drainage ditch to the middle of the water. Fortunately the clay bottom is so hard that I can drive through it with the backhoe.

Eddie