Instant Pond

[bindian]

nice work. And lucky for you about the timeing of rain. If you can keep this going with photos of the developing island hopefully with ducks

g0rd0,
I can't say I am lucky right now, as I am sweating out the rain that is still dumping water into the pond. All I can do is watch and let God control it all now.
The island is anything but developing right now. Mostly disappearing. But I will get it fixed up as soon as I can buy a flat bottom boat. I'll have to get on Craig's list tonight and look for one.
hugs, Brandi

 

[yelbike]

Brandi,
Awesome project! More pictures please. I'm contemplating building a lake 1-2 acres in a few years when my youngest of four children becomes a good swimmer. What size do you think your lake is? Thanks for stating the amount of actual seat time. I'm also contemplating buying an old large tractor that can pull a 5-7 yard scraper to speed things up, when I'm finished I'd just sell it. But if you did all that work in only 28 hours, I thinking I may be able to just use what I have.
Again AWESOME project, thanks for posting.

 

[Western]

John boat may do the trick to get you out there. Do you have access to a pump? that may be a way to get the level down, with the hose down hill of the dam or past the erosion point. With the rain you've been getting it may be a time before it dries enough to get back in there. If your luck runs similar to mine, Id drain it, finish the digging and it wouldn't rain for 10 months

 

[ENG18LT]

Brandi, You have a great looking pond there. You must have done a great job with linning the pond with clay for it to fill up that fast, has it held the water level? We have a spring feed pond on our property that I have never seen drop more than 2-3" over the course of a summer. I would love to enlarge it to at least a half acre, but have other priorities right now. When you install the overflow could you post a couple pictures of it? Good luck and enjoy that new pond!

 

[Gary Fowler]

My brother in law had a fairly large pond built according to the Arkansas County Extension requirements which I believe are 160 feet square and must be 12 feet deep below grade not counting the levee. They wouldnt let him put in an overflow pipe but rather require that a trench be cut from the highest elevation side (built on a slope as most ponds are) then the trench follows the outside of the dam to control the runoff. The trench is lined with river rock to prevent washing. They said the reason is that you can never size an overflow pipe to control the run off as you dont know how much rain is going to fall and how fast. The trench is set to start diverting the water about 3 feet from the top of the dam. He had to conform to the state requirements if he wanted to get his partial reimbursement cost. Anyway if works well.
I built a small ponda couple years ago in Sept and was going to put in a concrete spill way in center of the lower dam, but didnt get it done (procrastinating too long waiting for the temps to fall then back to work overseas so it sat for over 5 months. Finally we got about 4 days of rain in Feb.which didnt fill the pond but about half full. BUT then the wet weather springs started flowing and filled it up to overflowing overnight. I ended up with a uphill side overflow cut into the dam to keep it from washing the lower levee away. This all happened when I was out of the country and luckily my Brother In Law saw what was happening and took his FEL and cut the upper dam side. When I came home, I filled it in a bit and left it to drain when the pond is 3" from top of lower dam. It works pretty good, but do have the constant draining around the side of the pond all winter and spring. The springs usually stop running in June when the weather normally turns dry. This year they stopped about April due to the drought.
I know you dont need rain for your pond, but if it keeps it up, rather than loose your lower dam, cut the upper side with your backhoe and divert the water outside of the pond sides downhill. You can always fill it back in later.

 

[bindian]

Brandi,
Awesome project! More pictures please. I'm contemplating building a lake 1-2 acres in a few years when my youngest of four children becomes a good swimmer. What size do you think your lake is? Thanks for stating the amount of actual seat time. I'm also contemplating buying an old large tractor that can pull a 5-7 yard scraper to speed things up, when I'm finished I'd just sell it. But if you did all that work in only 28 hours, I thinking I may be able to just use what I have.
Again AWESOME project, thanks for posting.

Thanks Yelbike. I am thinking it .16 of an acre. A pull scraper is fine, but I would not want to put it up the dam side. Remember, the dam slope includes the basin slope. Nice thing about my 7 foot bucket full of clay going up the slope, if I turn too far, I just drop the bucket and all that weight acts like an anchor. I would really like to buy a dozer to build ponds and have a large tractor loader backhoe to carry dirt. Bare in mind that is 28 hours of tractor time. That doesn't include getting the site ready to doze. I all that 5 years ago with the backhoe, digging up all the stumps the loggers left.
hugs, Brandi

 

[bindian]

John boat may do the trick to get you out there. Do you have access to a pump? that may be a way to get the level down, with the hose down hill of the dam or past the erosion point. With the rain you've been getting it may be a time before it dries enough to get back in there. If your luck runs similar to mine, Id drain it, finish the digging and it wouldn't rain for 10 months

Dennis,
Jon boat....flat bottom boat equals small and cheap to me. I am going to buy a pump just as soon as the IRS credits me for my amended return. I think I won't be satisfied with the pond or island until it is finished the right way........and that will take a good pump.
hugs, Brandi

 

[bindian]

Brandi, You have a great looking pond there. You must have done a great job with linning the pond with clay for it to fill up that fast, has it held the water level? We have a spring feed pond on our property that I have never seen drop more than 2-3" over the course of a summer. I would love to enlarge it to at least a half acre, but have other priorities right now. When you install the overflow could you post a couple pictures of it? Good luck and enjoy that new pond!

Thanks ENG18LT. I only dug the pond. God lined it with great soil. Like my other pond, water was seeping in the low spot Monday evening. So I am sure it is tied to some wet weather springs. I took more overflow photos today. I will post them ASAP.
hugs, Brandi

 

[bindian]

My brother in law had a fairly large pond built according to the Arkansas County Extension requirements which I believe are 160 feet square and must be 12 feet deep below grade not counting the levee. They wouldnt let him put in an overflow pipe but rather require that a trench be cut from the highest elevation side (built on a slope as most ponds are) then the trench follows the outside of the dam to control the runoff. The trench is lined with river rock to prevent washing. They said the reason is that you can never size an overflow pipe to control the run off as you dont know how much rain is going to fall and how fast. The trench is set to start diverting the water about 3 feet from the top of the dam. He had to conform to the state requirements if he wanted to get his partial reimbursement cost. Anyway if works well.
I built a small ponda couple years ago in Sept and was going to put in a concrete spill way in center of the lower dam, but didnt get it done (procrastinating too long waiting for the temps to fall then back to work overseas so it sat for over 5 months. Finally we got about 4 days of rain in Feb.which didnt fill the pond but about half full. BUT then the wet weather springs started flowing and filled it up to overflowing overnight. I ended up with a uphill side overflow cut into the dam to keep it from washing the lower levee away. This all happened when I was out of the country and luckily my Brother In Law saw what was happening and took his FEL and cut the upper dam side. When I came home, I filled it in a bit and left it to drain when the pond is 3" from top of lower dam. It works pretty good, but do have the constant draining around the side of the pond all winter and spring. The springs usually stop running in June when the weather normally turns dry. This year they stopped about April due to the drought.
I know you dont need rain for your pond, but if it keeps it up, rather than loose your lower dam, cut the upper side with your backhoe and divert the water outside of the pond sides downhill. You can always fill it back in later.

Gary,
Down here we called that a spillway. That is basically when I engineered in the rain this morning. Photos are coming ASAP. Almost all stock tanks, down here, just have overflow spillways. I like them, but when space is limited and you wanna drive on the dam, overflow culverts work fine also. Texas A&M has numerous articles on pond design and they want overflow carried away from the dam, not along side it. Small lakes around here usually have a spillway and overflow pipe. With the pipe being designed to lower the lake level when MX is required. I can always add another overflow pipe if needed.
hugs, Brandi

 

[bindian]

After the second thunderstorm this morning, I went out in the rain with the Big RED Beast and moved about 7 loads of topsoil onto the dam where it was the lowest for mass. I then dug into the gully where I stashed clay spoils from the first pond. The front wheels were going down to there axles as I backed out with about 3/4 yard of wet clay, but I just dropped the bucket and slid it out. I put this clay on the end of the dam and pushed the end of the dam over a little to make an Aggie engineered spillway. I lucked out here as the spillway dumped out over the area I had piled the clay spoils from the first pond. I finished using that clay up in the spillway. After I finished with me soaking wet, water was flowing out about 4 inches deep and making ripples and spreading out over a wide area. But the dam did good. Not much erosion either. The rains had stopped when I got home with the overflow culvert, and overflow was down to a trickle.....and no down stream erosion!
hugs, Brandi