Offered another unusual project

[logixjock]

well thank you for looking into this for me . I would hate to see the OP do all that gutter work & then get sited for doing what he thought was ok to do . Gutters up .
animal12

*cited

 

[hunt4570]

Question for you about the other ponds on the property, where do they drain off at? Where’s the overflow? Is there any? Maybe you could cause them to overflow towards that pond?

 

[Hay Dude]

Question for you about the other ponds on the property, where do they drain off at? Where’s the overflow? Is there any? Maybe you could cause them to overflow towards that pond?

They are located quite a distance away, so I am not able to utilize them. Both of them seem to be holding their water levels just fine.

 

[ZiggyD]

Don't want to install something that won't work or lessen my reputation with customer.

Sometimes the easiest way to preserve your reputation is to tell the customer that you’re unqualified to assess the project and maybe refer them to a knowledgeable engineer.

 

[Cfhenrickson]

Have a long time customer. It's a large acreage HOA with several fields to be hayed and large grass areas to be mowed.
They also have 3 small ponds.
1 pond is spring fed. The spring has unexpectedly dried up. I dont know a lot about the life cycle of springs, so I don't know if they can also come back to life, but it's been on the decline for about a year.
The pond is down to 10-20% (best guess). Water is evaporating, so diminishing with each passing day. There is no other natural water source to replace it nearby. The property owners would like to keep the pond, but are not of unlimited wealth.

Here is the only 2 ways I can think of to replenish the pond:
1. Drill a well. But how much the well gives in GPH is anyone's guess. Very rough estimated cost is about $10,000.

2. The current building the owners live in is uphill from the pond, about 300-500' away in a PUD building of 6 condominium units. Only a small part of the building currently has gutters and downspouts. I was contemplating installing hundreds of feet of 5" gutter, with 3x4 down spouts on the building and running all the down spouts into a continuous rain water retention system. Rather than running the underground pipe into a typical large stone pit, instead run the water directly into the pond.
Realize there's no guarantee it'll rain enough to keep the pond full, but other than that, that's the only reasonable sources of water I can come up with. The roofs areas are pretty large. I suppose there's a roof water runoff calculator that can help calculate.
Another noteworthy point is the other ponds, about 1/4 mile away each, are also spring fed, but not low on water. So that tells me it's probably not a drought issue?

This is all in the "talking/ideas" phase. I have installed several rainwater retention systems, so this is nothing new for me from an installation perspective.
I just don't know if it's enough water?
Pond is triangular about 150' on each leg and averages about 4-5' deep.

Don't want to install something that won't work or lessen my reputation with customer. Another thing definitely worth mentioning is the customer also has some desire to have gutters and downspouts installed to get roof runoff away from the building, so there could be a 2-fer type of benefit in helping to keep water from damaging building foundations
View attachment 3361235

I would get your County Extension Agent's view. Our's was most helpful. The most salient advice, do not ruin the clay liner material

 

[kenhar]

Leakage isn't the problem if the pond is 50 years old. I have had luck in the past, some good, some not so good, cleaning or digging the spring out with a shovel by hand. A machine is too aggressive. Of course the water level has to be low enough to show the springs location. Something as simple as a well being drilled or an excavation project somewhere in the area may be the culprit. The fresh water table is lowering nationwide. The source may be gone. The gutters and any other run off may be the answer. A well would be like an expensive crap shoot. lol

 

[Gord Baker]

Wait for Spring rains. Not worth feeding it. Looks like they could afford to hire a Geologist.

 

[HammerGrips]

You might want to ask a local geologist, well driller, and/or conservationist. They would know your area best, and probably can give better advice than a bunch of tractor enthusiasts or wannabe farmers on the internet.

 

[ggmoney]

I think you have two problems. 1. The supply from the spring 2. You definitely have a leak.
You have plenty of runoff to keep it full over the winter. I can see it getting lower in August, but this is early spring and there has been no evaporation. That pond should have collected water all winter and be full. I would drain it and buy a liner for a pond that size.

 

[walnutman]

Here in East Texas the summers can be brutal on ponds.
Two years ago we had two months of 100+ temps and not a drop of rain.

We live on a 6 acre pond... shared with a neighbor. Runoff when it rains is plentiful as there's 100's of acres all around us in the local watershed but when it doesn't rain, wind and heat do a number on the level.

We see drops in water level of up to three feet sometimes.

We moved here four years ago and it had been a really rainy spring when we got here. The front yard was a swimming pool with 2" of standing water.

I was told that there was a spring but apparently it's not doing enough.

Long story short, bought a backhoe and installed catch basins under every downspout (12) and installed 3 12" concrete drain boxes out front.

It's all done... grass has come in and I notice that when it does rain, the pond fills quicker.

Front yard can get overwhelmed during hard rains but as soon as the rain stops it instantly drains out to the pond.