Pond construction starts Monday!

[NoTrespassing]

We've got very small drainage creek between our property and my neighbor to the north. There is deep ravine and bridge at the bottom of it. Starting Monday a contractor is going to tear out the bridge and put in a dam. The dam will be 10ft. taller than the bridge is now and we're going to knock the top the hill down some to further reduce the grade. It should make a 2-3 acre pond. Here is a picture from the bridge.

Kevin

 

[NoTrespassing]

underside of bridge

 

[NoTrespassing]

south of bridge

 

[cowboydoc]

Looks like a great place to build a pond. They are sure are nice to have. I've been working on a new one for about a month now. Slow going. It should be about 2-3 acres as well.

 

[gotrocks]

That look like a great site for a pond. We have enjoyed our little 3/4 A. for several years.

Hope you don't have as much trouble with Trespassing/poachers vandals as we have over the years.

Maybe with your handle they will get the message early.

Keep us posted with pictures of the progress.

 

[Docsknotinn]

Looks Like the perfect spot. a pond is on my list but a few years down the road. Untill then I am enjoying watching others progress so I learn along the way.

 

[rmorgan]

Kevin--

Congratulations!! Ponds are one of my favorite topics. A good one is a fabulous addition, and a bad one is a horrifying headache. The fellow who built ours told me recently that he was called in to fix a bad one: The dam had settled so that it had a low spot over which overflow actually ran, and by the time he saw it serious scalping was occurring which inevitably would have led to a blowout, unleasing a few million gallons of water in an instant.

I'm sure your contractor knows what he's doing, but I do have a few of suggestions for things to be sure of: (1) that the dam includes a keyway that extends several feet deeper than the deepest water level; (1A /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif) that no part of the bottom be a rock stratum along which water can leach (that is, be sure that all bedrock is cut through, and that clay is sealed around the edges); (2) that the dam material is properly compacted (e.g. with a sheepsfoot roller) as each 2-3' of material is built up; (3) that there be an overflow swale, in addition to the spill pipe, which takes any excess water in a direction away from the dam (NOT over it /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif); that you pay close attention to final grades at water's edge so that you can get all the way around it with whatever equipment you will need and on foot (the ideal here, I think, would be a bench at the edge of the water with any up- or down-grade occurring 5-6' away from it; and that the bottom slopes down from the margin steeply enough to discourage wading animals. Finally, pay attention to where your runoff will end up; ours just goes over a hill and down to a creek, where it has done some hydraulic damage--see attached photo showing what happened at the bottom /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif. One of my winter projects is to pipe the runoff all the way down the hill so that it doesn't cut any deeper.

Have a great time with it!!