Digging a pond?

[avboiler11]

I put in a one acre pond 15 years ago.

How deep is your one-acre pond?

 

[ws6duramax]

Screen the overflow with 1" screen of some sort to prevent the fish from washing down stream. Smaller screen will plug too easily.

A word of caution here . If it's not a pond that around daily to keep an eye on , I would avoid doing this . I had a neighbor who thought it was a good idea to put an old charcoal grill grate over his overflow .

The grate plugged up with stick and leaves and washed over the damn for who knows how long before he noticed it . There was a crater on the back side that you could put a school bus in ! They were able to save it , but another couple rains and it would have been gone .

Clay is right though , the larger the screen the better . Just make sure you can keep an eye on it . That couple dollar screen could cost you a fortune in you don't keep an eye on it .

 

[MarineOne]

May be a dumb question, but I don’t know the answer....do you have to have permission from the county in order to put a pond on your property?

 

[ws6duramax]

May be a dumb question, but I don’t know the answer....do you have to have permission from the county in order to put a pond on your property?

As far I know , no you don't . It might vary by counties though . It's always good to check with neighbors that are close or maybe affected in some way .

With that being said , I believe there might be some restrictions as far as the height of the dam and the amount of water it backs up . At some point the army Corp of engineers can get involved . I'm not sure where that limit is , I think roughly 5 acres and or 25' dam height . But that's just a guess though

 

[bobjones223]

As far I know , no you don't . It might vary by counties though . It's always good to check with neighbors that are close or maybe affected in some way .

With that being said , I believe there might be some restrictions as far as the height of the dam and the amount of water it backs up . At some point the army Corp of engineers can get involved . I'm not sure where that limit is , I think roughly 5 acres and or 25' dam height . But that's just a guess though

I would check into the regulations on this. If you are "digging" a pond that is one thing. If you are damming up a ravine that is something completely different.

Ever since the Princess Lakes dam failure they have been looking a lot harder at dammed ponds. Their primary concerns here are "if" the dam fails where is the sudden rush of water going to go and if there are life and safety concerns from the sudden wall of water.

I am no expert on this but as an excavation contractor I know after Princess Lakes we had a lot of calls from neighborhood associations who had had their dams flagged by Army Corps. and FIMA and found to be deficient.

 

[Rhinestone Pete]

One thing that I would definitely recommend is to add an aerator to your pond. I purchased some property with a 3/4 acre pond and it was so full of weeds, there was literally just a small opening in the center of the pond. I added an aerator and after the first year, hardly have any issues with most weeds. I will occasionally get a bloom, but a quick treatment and it goes away fairly quickly. I can tell the water is much clearer, cleaner, and fish seem much more healthier too now. I've also added some grass carp to keep some the vegetation at bay. The last couple of years, I've also noticed the bottom muck has been clearing up too.

 

[Clay319]

Sorry for the delay, I was out of town over the weekend. The pond is 12 feet deep. Yes, the pond is at my home so I can keep the screen cleared. And, water should never go over your dam but should go over a spill way that goes around one side of the dam. Stuff happens and you have to plan on the pond overflowing at some point. Where will the overflow go and what will be the worst possible result?

 

[Jackson]

In Indiana, dams are regulated by the Department of Natural Resources. There are permitting and construction requirements.

https://www.in.gov/dnr/water/2458.htm

 

[ws6duramax]

In Indiana, dams are regulated by the Department of Natural Resources. There are permitting and construction requirements.

https://www.in.gov/dnr/water/2458.htm

For most people , the below criteria probably would not apply . If you have a good contractor and use common sense it "shouldn't" be an issue . Sometimes it's best not to ask to many questions as far as getting the county and government offices involved .


The Indiana General Assembly has established dam safety laws to protect the citizens
of Indiana. Generally, the laws are intended to insure that the dam owner maintains
his/her dam in a safe manner. The laws also define inspection requirements, violation
conditions, and actions that the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) will
take if the dam owner violates the law. IDNR currently regulates all dams that meet any
one of the following criteria:
(1) the drainage area above the dam is greater than 1 square mile
(2) the dam embankment is greater than 20 feet high
(3) the dam impounds more than 100 acre-feet
All dams that meet any one of these criteria will be regulated by IDNR under Indiana
Code (IC) 14-27-7.5, “Regulation of Dams.” IC 14-27-7.5 presents the legal
requirements for operating, maintaining, and inspecting regulatory dams in Indiana.

 

[bobjones223]

One thing that I would definitely recommend is to add an aerator to your pond. I purchased some property with a 3/4 acre pond and it was so full of weeds, there was literally just a small opening in the center of the pond. I added an aerator and after the first year, hardly have any issues with most weeds. I will occasionally get a bloom, but a quick treatment and it goes away fairly quickly. I can tell the water is much clearer, cleaner, and fish seem much more healthier too now. I've also added some grass carp to keep some the vegetation at bay. The last couple of years, I've also noticed the bottom muck has been clearing up too.

The aerators can do wonders to a pond. I am not sure you need one this early in the ponds life but as they age it will help with the health of the pond.

What they do is they circulate the water pushing the water from the bottom of the pond to the top of the pond.

This brings oxygenated water down to the bottom of the pond and gives the microbes a healthy environment to eat up the biomass. In older ponds that biomass can be well over 4' thick. The addition of the aerators allow the microbes to reduce the biomass by 80% thus making the pond deeper and the bottom harder.

This is why they help older ponds so much. It is like dredging the pond out without even putting a bucket in it.

As for the dam construction. There are three things you NEED to make sure you contractor does.

1) Make sure they cut a keyway in for the dam! What this is is they will excavate down into the existing soils creating a notch/trench. Then the dam is started at a depth lower than the existing soils and compacted the rest of the way up to finish grade. This acts like a lock for the dam and eliminates the seam between the existing soils and the dam. If this is not done you can get leakage between layers and believe it or not the dam can slide on the existing soils. Look into the dam at Mississinewa Reservoir. They had the lake drawn down for years because the dam was sliding down the valley. MAJOR $$$$$$$$$ to fix the problem.

2) Make sure they pour an anti siphon collar around the pond discharge pipe. It is hard to get good compaction of soils around a round pipe. So what happens is the water starts leaching around the pipe through the loose soils and following the old pipe trench. This water will carry out the soils creating a cavity the length of your discharge pipe and cause failure of the dam. The anti siphon collar is poured around the discharge pipe in the middle of the dam. the pipe is laid, back filled, and compacted soils are placed over the top. Then the pipe is excavated at a location in the middle of the dam all the way around the pipe wider and deeper than the original pipe ditch. Concrete is them poured in to finished dirt grade creating a dam around the pipe to prevent water migration along its length. Once the concrete is set up you finish placing your compacted lifts on top to get to final dam height.

3) DO NOT LET THEM USE CORRUGATED METAL PIPE!!! I have seen it on many other dams, it has a 30 year lifespan at which point and time the invert starts rusting out and you are hosed! Only use concrete, HDPE, or P.V.C. pipe.

Sorry for the long rant...just trying to help.

 

[avboiler11]

I've met with Doug Bergman a couple times and he's dug test holes on my property that show suitable soil, so mid-summer I think they're gonna get to it...roughly 1/3 to 1/2 acre in surface area.

I've called the Clark County Zoning & Planning Office, as well as the Soil & Water Conservation District, and neither told me of any required permits. Have a voicemail into the Clark Co Engineer as a final check but otherwise I think I'm good to go since there aren't any WOTUS concerns...?

 

[ws6duramax]

I've met with Doug Bergman a couple times and he's dug test holes on my property that show suitable soil, so mid-summer I think they're gonna get to it...roughly 1/3 to 1/2 acre in surface area.

I've called the Clark County Zoning & Planning Office, as well as the Soil & Water Conservation District, and neither told me of any required permits. Have a voicemail into the Clark Co Engineer as a final check but otherwise I think I'm good to go since there aren't any WOTUS concerns...?

That's awesome . You'll be more than happy with how it turns out , he does excellent work . If it wasn't such a pain to post pictures , I would put some up of the one he did for me .

 

[avboiler11]

ITS HAPPENING!

 

[LockStocksAndBarrel]

 

[66chevelle]

I know we have never meet but I am jealous of you right now. My wife decided that we need to put on pond on hold for a couple of years. I am very excited to see the stages and the learning curves you share with us. I will be paying very close attention to this.

 

[bobjones223]

I know we have never meet but I am jealous of you right now. My wife decided that we need to put on pond on hold for a couple of years. I am very excited to see the stages and the learning curves you share with us. I will be paying very close attention to this.

I am just jealous the dozers have AC!!!!

 

[avboiler11]

Picture was taken early this afternoon by my wife; if the rain holds off they should be finished by the end of this week.

Not 100% clear on surface area yet, likely 2/3 acre, max depth about 11'. Bringing in some pea gravel tomorrow for some fish habitat and a kayak launch-type area, get some structure in the pond (artificial or most likely, built from some of the removed trees), then buy and install a small aerator before the pond fills, then seed/straw the yard and around the pond, then build a dock, and finally figure out exactly when, what, where from and how to stock it with fish - likely starting next spring if it fills sufficiently.

Jones Fish has some comprehensive stocking packages, but the prices are $$$...considering Andry's, Cassidy, or Clear Creek Fish Farms, too.
As somebody said upthread, it ain't an inexpensive process...but once everything gets done...

 

[42769vette]

Thanks for the post's AV. This is something I'd love to do someday.

Problem is, where I want it is a 20 foot deep, 100 yard wide gully full of trees. I'm betting removing all those roots would get expensive quick.

 

[ws6duramax]

You'd be surprised how quickly trees can be removed with a good sized excavator ! They can make short work of a lot of trees in no time flat .

Thanks for the post's AV. This is something I'd love to do someday.

Problem is, where I want it is a 20 foot deep, 100 yard wide gully full of trees. I'm betting removing all those roots would get expensive quick.

 

[ws6duramax]

I went with Clear Creek for mine . They are great people to deal with . Family owned , knowledgeable and very nice people to talk with . I don't believe I lost a single fish from them .

Picture was taken early this afternoon by my wife; if the rain holds off they should be finished by the end of this week.

Not 100% clear on surface area yet, likely 2/3 acre, max depth about 11'. Bringing in some pea gravel tomorrow for some fish habitat and a kayak launch-type area, get some structure in the pond (artificial or most likely, built from some of the removed trees), then buy and install a small aerator before the pond fills, then seed/straw the yard and around the pond, then build a dock, and finally figure out exactly when, what, where from and how to stock it with fish - likely starting next spring if it fills sufficiently.

Jones Fish has some comprehensive stocking packages, but the prices are $$$...considering Andry's, Cassidy, or Clear Creek Fish Farms, too.
As somebody said upthread, it ain't an inexpensive process...but once everything gets done...