Has anybody built a pond?

[Heath]

I'd like to build a pond on my property. I'm thinking that I'd like to make the pond oval shaped and about 15x30 feet in size and deep enough to reduce the amount of sunlight that could reach the bottom and create excessive vegetation growth.
I believe that my primary problem may be a water source. I don not have an active stream on my property, but I am planning on building this pond at the bottom of a valley that serves as a watershed in the spring and after hard rains.
Question: Will I need to put a well in specifically to fill and maintain the level of the pond? I know that the depth of my home well is approximately 350'. Although the house will be about 500' from the pond and approximately 80' higher in elevation, I'm guessing that the water source for the pond well will likely be the same source that my home well is sourced to.
Any thoughts on this topic are greatly appreciated. Has anyone here done something like this?
Heath

 

[chrisjbell]

I haven't built a pond...yet. I'd also like some advice on this subject. I've got water (irrigation district), and most folks around here seem to do fine without putting in liners, although one of my neighbors dug really deep into the bedrock and had to use concrete to keep it from leaking.

I'm quite curious about this one. Can I do the work with my CUT (got a small backhoe and FEL)? Would I be better off renting a 'dozer? Money is a big issue for me - got laid off not too long ago so I have much more time than cash.

 

[tdenny]

I haven't built my pond yet mostly because I have young children and I'm very worried about my youngest tumbling into the water. Just something to keep in mind for safety sake.

 

[WCarlson]

I have a 1/3 acre trout pond that is 11 feet deep. I had been feeding it from both an active spring and a stream that I divert to the pond, an assured and consistent source of water. The two sources kept the pond filled and the trout healthy for over 10 years. Then we had a severe drought in 1999. Both the spring and the stream dried up and the trout started dying. My solution was to have a shallow well dug up in the woods above the pond in a place that was always wet. I contracted with a well digger and cut a path through the woods to enable him to get his truck to the wet spot. When he arrived, I found that the measurements he quoted for his truck were for it in a folded state. It was three times as high and twice as wide as the path I cut. He then informed me that the "modern" way of digging a well was to put the truck where it would fit and dig until he hit water (at $20.00 per foot). After he set up the truck he only dug for two hours, but went down 270 feet. ($20x270=$5400 + $300 for casing and $1700. for the pump, tank and hydrant). The well is 500 feet from my house well which is 170 feet deep. I now run the well pump up to 8 hours a day in the summer when the water starts getting near 70 degrees and aerate the pond with a dedicated high volumn, low pressure pump when the air temperature is below 65 degrees. The pump feeds a 2' by 2' airstone and will move 120,000 gal of water an hour. (cost $2200.) I have happy fish and am blessed with an understanding wife.

The reason for the long diatribe is that even a pond with an "assured and consistent" source of water is subject to the whims of mother nature and can result in a significant cash outlay, if you want it to remain healthy and not merely a muddy hole in the ground.

As far as tapping into the same source as your house: my primary well is 170 feet deep, my auxilliary pond well is 270 feet deep, I have neighbors within 1/4 mile that have wells 25 feet deep and 250 feet deep, as well as one that doesn't have a well, just a spring and a cistern, all at virtually the same elevation. The point being that water underground is rather unpredictable, you could find it at virtually any depth and the depth of your current well 500 feet away may or may not be an indication of the depth at which you will find water. In my case it wasn't.

In short, a pond can be a delight, however, you will need an assured source of water and should be prepared for a significantly larger cash outlay than you may plan. I hope this helps.
Good luck,
Bill

 

[gmason]

heath, we built a ~.75ac pond a few years ago. Picturepond pictures link

We had way too much water source so we had to put in a pond to control runoff. I have a 18" pipe coming into the pond and 3 12" going out. Plus several other small runoff spots around the pond to feed it.

If you make it deep enough, you shouldn't need to use your well to keep water in it. I use mine to irrigate the whole property with it, about 7 circuits now and growing.

I'd be happy to answer any specfic questions you have.. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

gary

 

[Heath]

Gary,
How deep do you think your pond is? How did you fill it? Did you allow the run off to fill it over time? Did you Dig until you hit water?
Thanks
Heath

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I know its of no help... but our pond has dried up quite a bit. Down like 3-4 ft. I hope it comes back up this spring/summer.
It is fed from underground.

Ken H.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

If you let the pond start out shallow and then drop it off in some areas, you'll have some nice places of vegetation like lilly pads, maybe duckweed (which looks really cool) and other plants, like cat tails etc. You'll get a ton of widllife to enjoy, redwinged blackbirds, different species of swallows, ducks, and so on. I can go on forever listing birds that will visit. I saw a really awesome picture of someone's pond on TBN but can't find it. I'll keep on looking.

Blake
WA

P.S. As far as what machine to use, all depends on how much money you want to pay out for using a dozer or whatever. But it depends on the size of pond and how deep etc. An excavator might be easy, then you can haul your dirt away with your FEL.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Here's some pictures of ponds, just ideas. I hope to put one on my property when I have it some day.

Blake
WA

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Another...this one I don't like just because it's too open. I would want more trees around it, like a weeping willow, some cat tails etc. I'm a birder and so I see things more in a natural way and see how I can best maximize my chances of attrackting a lot of bird species.

Blake
WA

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Here's a canada goose in "duck weed." I really like duck weed, I think it looks cool.

Blake
WA

 

[rdbrumfield]

A 15' wide pond won't be very deep in the middle and won't have any flat on the bottom at all. I wouldn't want to have a slope any steeper than 2-1. At 15' sloping from both sides will meet at the middle at about 3 3/4' of depth with no flat, will be a vee ditch.

 

[Heath]

Good point about the size calculation. I wrote this post while trying to size the potential pond in my head. 15' may be more narrow than I will build it, but you bring up a very good point about the depth measurement.
My main concern is the water issue, not the size issue. I know I can move as much dirt as I need to, I just hope that I can keep enough water in the hole that I create!
Heath

 

[soarkrebel]

The property i have now already had a pond on it when i bought it.
it's about a acre in a size and going to be a pain in my a**. the levee leaks. the water seaps out and runs through my field. now once it reachs a certain water level it stops leaking. talked to a couple of folks who said i need to drain it by busting the levee and put clay in the levee.
Oh estimates around $1500 +.

i am thinking about paying a dozer to level the whole thing . but then due to the rocky terrain i will have to put top soil down to get grass to grow. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

Always something . i am probably going to let it be and see if it won't seal itself naturally. maybe time . it's only about a year and half old.

I mean they are great my boys love throwing rocks in it. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

i really wanted to raise some catfish . good luck with yours.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Hi,

Our pond is something like 80 x 50...5' deep at one end...maybe only 2 at the shallow end.

Fist question is whether your soil will hold water. Here we have a lot of clay. I did not dig the pond myself, but had a guy come in with a tracked loader to do it. We stopped digging when we started hitting rock. Were afraid that it would not hold water if we got down below the clay.

So the first question is wil the soil where you want to make that pond hold water after you dig it? Another concern is muskrats, if you have them where you are. They can dig holes in the section that is above ground if you have to make dam like wall...someone told me if you keep the level very close to the top of the dam then the muskrats will not dig in because then have no place to make an air pocket in which to live. Seems to work for us...

If you don't have a source of make up water, you will have to live with dropping water levels between rains...

We are lucky that we have a spring and so even in drought it trickles in and keeps the level up.

Geese have a way of keeping the pond muddy...we only have three and the only time I have seen the pond bottom was when we had no geese...

I would try to do some kind of test to evaluate whether the ground will hold water. My neighbor has a hole in the ground where he tried to make a pond but failed. I think that may have been due to muskrats...I think he probably tried to make his dam with a tractor, while ours was packed down real well by the tracks of that high lift.

Good luck in your pond making. Ponds are real nice things to have on your property.

 

[theboman]

They are lots of posts on pond building here, I find it very interesting. Like most the folks here on the earlier posts get an excavator (trackhoe) or dozer.
Your tractor with a FEL will cause a mess, wear it out, take forever and more than likey you'll have to get the dozer to pull your tractor from the mud as what starts getting into the pond as you dig and dig.
Check county/state laws too. Many a places you just can't build a pond these days without it being approved, inspected etc. They'll usually have some nice advice too.
You more than likely need to find a clay source to line the pond so it holds water.

 

[dummy]

It's possible if your soil is clay based. I started this one last spring. Approx. 30x60x5 Equipment pictured is what we used to dig pond. Should have made it larger (less grass to mow). The rock waterfall is being replaced this spring.my small pond SMKYMTNMAN is working on one just a tad bit larger /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[WCarlson]

My soil down to 20 feet is a mixture of clay and shale, then limestone. The way I was able to get it to hold water was to line the pond with plastic pond liner.
Bill

 

[herbenus]

Link did not work.

I've heard of farmers throwing bentonite or some other powdered clay into pond to seal. It will settle to bottom. I don't know how well it actually works.

 

[gerard]

You can get an excavator with operator for about 100/hr. They could put your size pond in in one day. Figure about $1000 and you can do the clean up yourself. (removing the big rocks, dragging the berms smooth, seeding etc). Re the bentonite - it's a clay that swells when it gets wet. Same stuff they use in the clumping cat litter. Doesn't work as well if the water is already in the pond as it starts swelling as soon as it hits the water. (I've used some). Directions say to apply to dry pond bottom in a uniform layer. Better if you can even till it in a little, compact the soil/clay mix, then let fill. Then the bentonite swells and seals. You could also get a truckload of clay after the ponds dug, spread it it out uniformly on the bottom and use that as a sealer. Not too expensive - about 200-300 per 10 wheel dump. (We used it as a base for an indoor horse arena and had to get quite a bit)