digging a small pond... or hole in the ground that is supposed to hold water..

[sid79]

i had this tiny waterhole in the back, a little bigger then the size of a tractor tire...

i finally got my first implement for my ford, a old heavy 6ft backblade, i started digging.. im now down to clay, is should now stop digging dont i? cause the clay is supposed to hold the water i think..

my wife is not happy btw it looks kind of messy when you dig with a backblade :laughing:

ill get some pictures tomorrow

 

[CalG]

If you want it deep, keep going until you get through the clay, then pretend it's daylight savings time, and turn the clock back an hour ;-)

 

[cartod]

Stop, drink a beer and take a second look. Then start digging again.

 

[breadtrk]

This is excatly what I'm going to do behind my house. Scoop out the puddle and put some rocks on the hill that feeds it. I'm going to call it a waterfall and Breads pond.

 

[EddieWalker]

Clay is good for holding water, but it's bad for water to get into the pond if it's a spring. Water travels underground through sand and gravel type materials. Clay is too fine and compacted to allow water to flow through it, so there needs to be a layer of something other then clay to all the water to get there. If you are next to a hill, the water could be coming from water that has soaked into the hill when it rains and is coming out where you are digging, or it's just a high spot when the water table is full. Since this is spring, my guess is that as the water table drops, so will the water in your pond.

Eddie

 

[Gary Fowler]

Clay is good for holding water, but it's bad for water to get into the pond if it's a spring. Water travels underground through sand and gravel type materials. Clay is too fine and compacted to allow water to flow through it, so there needs to be a layer of something other then clay to all the water to get there. If you are next to a hill, the water could be coming from water that has soaked into the hill when it rains and is coming out where you are digging, or it's just a high spot when the water table is full. Since this is spring, my guess is that as the water table drops, so will the water in your pond.

Eddie

That is how my small pond works. During winter and spring rains it runs all the time, sometimes very heavy but as the rains fade during summer and fall, the pond has to be deep enough below the spring flow entry to hold enough water to last till the rains come again. We had long droughts for last 3 year and at one point it was only about belly deep to a german shepherd dog but it was enough to prevent a fish kill. It always fills up during the winter. It is about 8 feet deep when completely full.