Digging Pond questions

[Meadow2014]

Location: south tyler county
Digging a pond that is 70 x 35 x 12Deep.
Less than 1000 yards of dirt due to slopping
Soil: Silt/Sand i believe maybe some clay
Open area that stays really went during wet season and holds water after a good rain.
terrain around pond: steady slope towards pond
Will dig pond beginning of june when drier.

Using a Cat D3G dozer only.... i know they re are better ways, but this is the way im having to do it.

How long would that take me?
Is 12 foot deep enough to keep water year around?
How long would it take me to spread 600 yards of dirt?
Could it be done in 2 to 3 full days?

I live on 13 acres of land.....will my 13 acres support an additional pond of similar size 7 acres away?
Will come back later when money permits with backhoe to dig deeper if need be.

Thanks

 

[bindian]

Meadow,
12 feet is a good depth. Now is it deep enough to hold water? That's a tough question to answer. If you have a lot of sand, your gonna need to line it with clay.
Someone with small dozer experience will have to answer how long to spread the spoils out.
hugs, Brandi

 

[blueriver]

As Brandi stated.. Depth will depend on the soil. I have 3 ponds of fair size.. The last one got to 18' and then the core for the dam got real deep .. They dug as deep at the track hoe could .. Then dug a platform to drive the hoe in and dug deeper to find clay .. Then filled that with clay all along the dam .. All 3 hold water and have never gone empty ... They have dropped during the extreme drought .. But full and overflowing again.

 

[Meadow2014]

When clearing land of mostly brush and small trees ( 2 to 7 in diameter) should I use root rake first?

 

[LD1]

Not sure how things get done it texas, but around here typically the first thing that gets done is a test hole is dug. Then you know if the soil is even good for a pond, and how deep you can go.

Now it might just be be, but 35' wide, only 75' long, and 12+ ft deep seems like a pretty small pond for that depth. Especially for trying to dig with a dozer and be able to push back up and out.

My pond was ~2000-2500 yds of dirt moved. Two guys with two smaller excavators (14 ton and 9 ton machines) and 2 days. I would think with an EX yours could be done in a day. A dozer.....again, I think you are going to have a hard time pushing any amount of dirt up and out. Not to mention the risk of getting stuck in the bottom instead of digging from above with an ex.

As to the spreading 600 yds with a d3. Just depends on how far/thin you want to spread it. BUt I dont see that taking more than a day.

 

[ace10]

When you say "70 x 35 x 12Deep" are those dimensions in feet or yards?

 

[LD1]

When you say "70 x 35 x 12Deep" are those dimensions in feet or yards?

Thats a good question. But since he said ~1000yds of dirt to move, I am assuming he meant feet. Cause yards would make it more like 27000 yards of dirt to me moved.

 

[Meadow2014]

Thanks for the info.

My Dad had his pond dug with a D4 dozer only in a day....and it was 40 x 70 x 15....so I figured I could get it done in at least 2 days. I ll also be using a D4

My neighbor has a pond that is 12 foot deep and holds water very well so im going off that.....his pond is about 2 acres away.

Yeah after doing some studing im going to make my pond more square....around 85 by 65. easier to push dirt out.

Dimensions in feet

 

[Meadow2014]

Location: south tyler county
Digging a pond that is 70 x 35 x 12Deep.
Less than 1000 yards of dirt due to slopping
Soil: Silt/Sand i believe maybe some clay
Open area that stays really went during wet season and holds water after a good rain.
terrain around pond: steady slope towards pond
Will dig pond beginning of june when drier.

Using a Cat D3G dozer only.... i know they re are better ways, but this is the way im having to do it.

How long would that take me?
Is 12 foot deep enough to keep water year around?
How long would it take me to spread 600 yards of dirt?
Could it be done in 2 to 3 full days?

I live on 13 acres of land.....will my 13 acres support an additional pond of similar size 7 acres away?
Will come back later when money permits with backhoe to dig deeper if need be.

Thanks

Will be using a D4 wide tracks blade is a 6 way that's 10 foot wide
I mentioned a D3G in first post that has changed to D4

 

[LD1]

My neighbor has a pond that is 12 foot deep and holds water very well so im going off that.....his pond is about 2 acres away.

Acres is not a measurement of distance.

2 acres, if only a foot wide, is 16.5 miles away:confused2:

you get the idea.

2 acres could be 100ft away, 1000ft away, or who knows. And just because your neighbors holds water at 12' is no guarentee on yours. Also, is there any elevation change in that 2 acres between you and him? That could make a difference too.

 

[RedNeckRacin]

That sounds like a very small pond. I did some calculations and assuming very steep 1:1 slope for the sides, thats only about 600 yards of dirt and even less if the sides shallow out a bit.

 

[bindian]

That sounds like a very small pond. I did some calculations and assuming very steep 1:1 slope for the sides, thats only about 600 yards of dirt and even less if the sides shallow out a bit.

I'm thinking when he gets down to doing it and sees the slope, he'll revise his size. My first, smaller pond has 1/1 slope on one side and it's kinda ugly looking when water level is way down. 2/1 slope is iffy mowing with my zero turn mower on the other side and dam.

My second pond has 3/1 slope down to 7 feet, then drops off to 11 feet.
hugs, Brandi

 

[ace10]

100% grade is no joke.

 

[Texasmark]

Agree on soil test first. Even with clay as mine, it may take several years of silt for it to really become functional which mine did require. My main problem even with clay and all was that it's cut into the side of a hill where the dam outer perimeter was some 10' below spillway. At 1/2# per foot of elevation, that's only 5 psi of water pressure against the soil, but it doesn't take much to work it's way through it.

On volume, you said 13 acres in your place. What you need to know is the size of the watershed then multiply by the anticipated rainfall to get an acre-feet number. Apply that to your acre-feet or whatever measurement reference you choose for pond size and you will have the answer to your question. Course like we have had this past winter and spring, I got lots of rain, but it was spaced out and slow in falling and all soaked in....pond got only what fell on it. Ground has to get saturated and then rain must fall at a rate that will produce runoff and then the acre-ft of watershed can apply......per my experience here over the last 35 years.

HTH,
Mark

 

[Ken45101]

Where is the water table?

Where we used to live, the water table was an inch under the surface in winter, 6' deep in a serious drought year. As such, we had good success. With yours being a wet area, you might have the same situation, depending on why it's wet.

 

[Meadow2014]

no elevation change.....

yeah the acres im referring to is 6 inches wide and 33 miles long cause that's normal....maybe it is in ohio.....really come man

square acres

 

[Meadow2014]

either way im going to attempt the pond.....digging the pond is just something im going to do after I clear my land because that's the main reason im getting dozer.....plus I need some dirt to level out some areas and build drive way up.

I can always come back later and dig out the" started pond" with back hoe

 

[ace10]

square acre.... now that's something new to me.

i hope the google can be of help.

 

[LD1]

no elevation change.....

yeah the acres im referring to is 6 inches wide and 33 miles long cause that's normal....maybe it is in ohio.....really come man

square acres

No way for us to know otherwise. It certainly aint an ohio thing I dont think. Maybe its a texas thing to refer to distance measurement by using a measurement of area?

Either way, not trying to tell you not to dig the pond. Just trying to say you will likely need to adjust your dimensions of the pond cause I think you will have issues with a dozer pushing up them slopes.

 

[bindian]

Meadow2014. Just start digging and have fun. You'll find, from time to time, replies to your thread that in no way help what you are asking and are planning to do.
hugs, Brandi