Pond Build

Getting ready to take on a small pond build this holiday weekend. It should be about a quarter acre in surface are and a planned depth of 15'. I will be installing a bottom draw siphon overflow as well as an emergency spillway. The pond will be well fed as well as run off. My immediate neighbor has a new machine shop (10,00 SQ ft). I will be installing a catch basin on thier property to which they will run thier downspouts. From the basin I am running 12" double wall culvert under my driveway to the pond. I will also be cutting the slope of the roadside ditch back and placing fabric. The wife will be bucketing decorative rock with the tractor to cover the bank. Should be an interesting weekend!

roughly 5000 yards of material to remove .. by the dimensions you described.. might take a cpl wk ends if ya had a 657g and a d 10 pushcat.

Big project for one weekend! Good luck!

Hope you have your permits. DEP will have a field day with you if you don't.

remember your local Dept or Ag Extension Ofc has LOTS of free info/help to make our jobs easier/better/more effective...ie, ,best to make it deeper around the edges/sides than in the middle, etc, etc.

this is the one time we can get a return on our taxes!

Sounds like quite the project! Try to make it enjoyable, sounds like work to me lol.

Was making killer progress today. Have about 40' of dyke to complete plus the overflows. After that it's onto the catch basin and landscaping! Big big storm coming so I sealed everything up and called it a day. Got a good 12 hrs in. Might have to hold off a few days on completion depending how much rain we get.

Your pond is coming along very fast. What equipment did you use to dig it and move all the dirt?

Keith

You got a lot of work done in one day!

I rented a Cat 314 excavator with a clean up bucket (42") and a 2 foot ditching bucket. It was a low lying area so the only digging was about 500 yards of topsoil(4' thick shallowest spot was a foot) and then cutting the key for the dike. Without any digging I had 7 foot of depth already. Basically all I had to do was strip topsoil and then dig whatever clay I need for the dyke. Otherwise it would not be a weekend project.

Wow....what a Job for two to tackle!!!

Looks Great so far!

Did your pond catch a lot of water from the storm? We got deluged on this morning.

Keith

Most operators want to start a cut at the top and work their way down hill then when they are trying to cut out the bottom they have to push it all the way to the top of the dam if you start your cut at the center of the dam the deepest part and build the bottom of your dam out of the material at the bottom of your pond then work your cut backwards cutting from bottom to top you move your dirt level instead of uphill this way you finnish the top of the dam from the sides of your pond instead of the bottom deepest part like 99% of operators do . It makes ponds quick

34 years as a Civil Eng. Specialist with USDA. I was a 1 man show that surveyed. designed, drafted plans, inspected construction, and certified quantities for many, many farm ponds, wetlands, animal waste facilities, sediment basins etc.. Reviewed projects for technical adequacy for U.S. from all of the above categories from both public and private sources. Viewed lots of "farmer" failures when mother nature decided to "test" the design and installation techniques (none were mine luckily). Everyone pitches their 0.02 worth in but All I will say is,,,,,,, to work safely, within the confines of your State Regs and enjoy the water..... the mike - Retired USDA CET

Now that’s a huge pond..looks like a cool project..

A week and a half and I'm up to 14'. Got 3' in the last 2 hours. Getting absolutely hammered with rain right now. Not going to lie......a little nervous! Lol. Hope the emergency spillway is big enough!

Looks like the pond is just about full, give us an update. Not sure how many acres of drainage you're dealing with? Seems like it's filled up quick.

The pond is full to the hilt. The bottow draw overflow is functioning well. With the amount of rain we have had the emergency spillway did get some flow. The other attached pics are a yard and restaurant about a mile from me. We got almost 5" last Wednesday. As for runoff there is maybe 20 acres that run it this, but also the downspouts from a 10,000 sq ft building. Waiting on a few days of dry weather to get a dozer in to spread topsoil and finish grade. The forecast doesn't look to promising for that.

Finally had the weather and time this weekend to get a dozer and finish grade the yard around the pond. Decided to touch up the back yard as well. Feels good to be totally finished! Downside is there's about an extra acre to mow in the future! All in all I'm very happy with how it turned out!

Very nice!

Give us some details. How deep? How big? Spring feed? I'm thinking about doing a pond build myself. I have only about a third of acre for one and I'm sure it would be spring feed. Not very big, but like to stock with cats and bluegill. Sarge

My bad, didn't scroll all the way up.

Just get your local AG Extension ofc involved like Wife above said/worked.

It is a GREAT chance to get a return on your tax dollars!

There is more to it that just digging a hole.