Pond building/design

[moosehunter]

Anyone know of a good source of pond building knowledge? A book would be nice (need lots of pictures)!
I have seen a couple built, have heard of "keying" the dyke, but wonder about keying specs ie: depth/width of key in relation to dyke width/hight.
Got lots of clay to seal it up! Matter of fact all I have is clay. Have lots of springs to fill it up.
I would like to read up on the prosess and decide if I want to do it myself or hire it done.
mh

[Norm]

Try this site MH  http://www.pondboss.com/

[Dakota]

Here's a picture of a pond I built using the following books:
Garden Pond by Graham Quick
Garden Pools by Ortho's




The library will have lots of books on how to build a pond.  It was a lot of fun to build and we enjoy watching the fish.  Psss, don't tell anyone, but there's blue gills in there for the grandkids to catch.
Dakota

[IMERC]

just happen to have a little bit of get started information handy

Building a wildlife garden pond
Contains information on building a pond to attract wildlife such as frogs and
birds, with additional pages on gardening for wildlife outside of the pond.
http://www.beautifulbritain.co.uk/pond_pages.htm - 18k - similar pages - add to favorites

How to build a pond - page 2
Wildlife pond or fish pond? Building a garden pond? Decide whether you want a
pond for wildlife or a pond for fish.
http://www.beautifulbritain.co.uk/wildlife_or_fish.htm - 15k - similar pages - add to favorites [ More results from www.beautifulbritain.co.uk ]

Pond Construction: Some Practical Considerations
Until recently, little concern was shown for construction safety in building farm
pond dams. Now, however, many states are routinely checking pond dams, ...
http://www.ext.vt.edu/pubs/fisheries/420-011/420-011.html - 12k - similar pages - add to favorites

Instructions; How to Build A Water Garden or Fish Pond from The ...
Detailed instructions on how to build your own water garden or fish pond from
The Water Garden - WaterGarden.com.
http://www.watergarden.com/pages/build_wg.html - 37k - similar pages - add to favorites

Building a Pond - MacArthur Water Gardens
Building a Pond - MacArthur Water Gardens. ... Build a Pond. Step by step - Here
are pictures of building a pond. Building a Pond - Step by Step ...
http://www.macarthurwatergardens.com/BuildPond/buildpond.htm - 64k - similar pages - add to favorites

build or dig a garden pond, building a pond or building a water ...
How to build or dig a garden pond using pre-formed plastic ponds or flexible EPDM
pond liners for pond building with pond kits.
http://www.pondmarket.com/ponds%20&%20liners.htm - 43k - similar pages - add to favorites

Pond Supply for garden ponds & water gardens,pond pumps,pond ...
Garden Pond & water garden info and pond supplies including pond kits, ...
filters as well as garden pond building, water garden & fish pond installation, ...
http://www.pondmarket.com/ - 49k - similar pages - add to favorites

Trout pond construction, farm pond building, lake design, pond ...
Fishery Biologists & consultants for trout ponds, fish ponds, farm pond, lake,
stream & pond construction & management. Pond design Biologists for designing ...
http://www.aquahabitat.com/ - 26k - Dec 18, 2005 - similar pages - add to favorites

Welcome to Keith's Pond Building 101 Page
If you follow these 5 helpful steps, your Pond building experience will be a
memorable one. Take it from someone who has been there and done that. ...
http://www.koikorner.com/pond1.htm - 11k - similar pages - add to favorites

Pond Building - Van Ness Water Gardens
Van Ness Water Gardens is one of the world's leading aquatic supply businesses.
Shop online and complete your order in minutes plus learn about water garden ...
http://www.vnwg.com/secindex.jsp?catid=54 - 27k - similar pages - add to favorites

[Beweller]

"Ponds", USDA HandbookNo. 387.

[srjones]

Earth Ponds Sourcebook: The Pond Owner's Manual and Resource Guide and/or Earth Ponds: The Country Pond Maker's Guide to Building, Maintenance and Restoration by Tim Matson

[Larry]

Used to be if you could show a need such as water for livestock, or erosion control the FSA (Farm Service Agency) would design the pond for you.  No strings attached or cost...your tax dollars at work.  They do excellent and a complete job...soil check, watershed area, drainage and all the other stuff.  It will be a first class design...and expensive to build.  You can always scale it back to suit the budget...or you might be eligible for cost share if they have any money.

[oakiemac]

I don't think there is any goverment money to be had for  ponds anymore. I could be wrong but I looked into this a few years back and found none. The US fish and wildlife MIGHT come in and design and build a wet land type pond but these are usually on a few feet deep.

The type of pond depends on your soil and water conditions. Here in Michigan most ponds including mine are ground water ponds where you just dig a hole and ground water fills it in to the height of the water table. Other places like where my uncle lives in southern Indiana you carve out a chunk of land with a dozer and build a dam and use surface water runoff as your water source. Your local soil and water conservation distric would set you in the right direction.

good luck and send some pictures.

[pigman]

I have built a few ponds, but I don't know how to do it  the correct way. I just pile up some dirt in a hollar and when it rains, the pond holds water. I built most of the ponds in this picture of my farm.

[etat]

I had mine built in a low place between to hills.  Actually, had it dug THREE different times, three years in a row. The first time I was off working and my dad said he'd take care of it, and all I really wanted was a little stock pond.  Well when I came in that evening that's exactly what I had, a little stock pond.

The next year I decided to drain it and have it enlarged.  I was on a budget and by the time I was through, it just didn't suit me.  The next spring I cut the levee again.

This time I had them dig a DEEP core ditch from top of hill to the top of the next hill.  Now it isn't that far apart between them hills but it was DEEP to the bottom of them.  AND, I had the levy built in a curve.  THAT while I DO NOT regret it proved to be VERY costly and added several thousand dollars to the cost of my finished pond.

After a bulldozer dug down to soft dirt I had them bring in a big track hoe cause I wanted it dug out deep.  I also had it built with different depths to it, at it's deepest point it is 22 feet deep.   At it's shallowest point, close to the bank, It drops off FAST to 6 feet, ledges out some, then down to 8 feet and so on. 

I actually sunk a couple of big sections off of a white oak log for fish to hang around if they wanted to, and I left about twenty five foot of the second levy running out into it for a pier to go out on and fish off of. 

The next thing I wanted was a levy big enough to safely drive a tractor across, and sloped off plumb to the bottom with a slope that I could mow.  They started out doing this but due to the depth of the hollar half way up they ran out of dirt.

Then I had them bring out one of them BIG earth movers with a paddle wheel type thing that loads the pan.  It ran for almost two weeks moving enough dirt on that levy to make it as safe as i wanted, and of course with a bulldozer running all that time to pack it down and shape it.  They used a revolving laser level to get it perfectly level across the top and finally dug the spillway. 


My original budget got shot to heck, let me tell you.  Doesn't matter now though cause it's built and paid for and stocked with catfish and bream, and it's almost within casting distance of my front porch. 

[Burlkraft]

In Wisconsin you would die of old age before you got through the red tape to put all those ponds in there Pigman  smiley_sick smiley_sick smiley_sick smiley_sick smiley_sick smiley_sick smiley_sick smiley_sick

We got waaayyyyy too much govment 'round here

[oakiemac]

In Michigan the only red tape is that you can't be within 500ft of a stream or river and you can't build a pond on a "wetland".

[pigman]

In Wisconsin you would die of old age before you got through the red tape to put all those ponds in there Pigman 

I just use the "don't ask, don't tell method".  There is advantages to living way off the road. ;D  I don't think there were any permits necessary to build ponds in Ky.

[Bro. Noble]

You need to get the USDA publication or design data from your local extension service.  If all you have is clay,  keying the dam or holding water won't be the issue.  You do need to make the spillway right and have the right amount of drainage into it (you can control this with diversion ditches) or you will risk having the dam wash out.  With springs,  you might not need any drainage into it at all.

[etat]

No permits around here either  Pigman as long as the runoff from the spill way doesn't affect your neighbors land!   


There's a power pole in mine, right out in the water kind of off to one side.  I called the power company and told them if they didn't come move it I was gonna build my pond around it.  They asked me if that would bother me.  I was kind of stunned but I told them NO, it wouldn't bother me if it didn't bother them.  

They said well, it wasn't bothering them at all.

I then asked them what they'd do if they ever had to replace that pole.

They said well, they'd just put a new pole in off to one side when that time came.  

I asked them how they would get the wire lose from the old pole.

They said they would worry about that when the time came.  

I said OK and went and told my track hoe and bull dozer guy to just keep digging around it and leave it a little island.  

And that's the way it stayed.  





Off in the distance that's my dads house and one of our neighbors.   

[beenthere]

Hope your pond holds better than the one in MO last week, that busted through the side. Don't recall the small town nearby, but by the looks of that pond (water pumped in to run hydro-electric), it was just an accident waiting to happen. Apparently the pumps didn't shut off, and filled it too full. Littlefield or someplace like that........??

[etat]

Mine can only get a few inches deeper than it is now.   There is a very very wide spill way off to the left that you can't see that can more than handle the amount of water that can run into it.  It is kept full entirely by rain water run off, no springs or creeks feeding it.  That's one reason I wanted it so deep so that it would never dry up.  Last summer we went a couple of months without rain and the water only dropped about a foot.  The levy is composed entirely of clay dirt and it is wide enough to turn a tractor around on it if you were careful and the slope off the back side is not steep.  I have bush hogged it many times.  Also there is nothing down below except a creek that runs across the road and across my property. 

[ScottAR]

Lesterville, MO if remember... 

[moosehunter]

Thanks for the info and suggestions.
I will keep you updated with pics once we get started.
The plan is for a 1 acre pond, give or take a little!
Here I don't need a permit unless the dam is over 15 feet. Mine should only be 10 or so.
mh

[Burlkraft]

Around here the DNR....Dept. of No Results flys in planes looking for don't ask don't tell ponds and bridges and such. I was going to buy a piece of land that was 120 acres. A creek ran along the whole front of the land. I would have had to build a $250,000.00 bridge to get access to the rest of the land. Right now the farmer is just driving his equipment across the creek. He can do that, because he was granfathered in. As soon as a sale took place, no more driving across the creek. It took me 4 months to even get that info out of them. I was thinking that a pond would look good there, the DNR guy just laughed at me and told me that it would be harder to get a permit for the pond than it was to find out about the bridge :( :( :( :( :(

[IMERC]

. I was thinking that a pond would look good there, the DNR guy just laughed at me and told me that it would be harder to get a permit for the pond than it was to find out about the bridge

Now if a family of beavers found their way into that creek..

[Furby]

In Michigan the only red tape is that you can't be within 500ft of a stream or river and you can't build a pond on a "wetland".

Don't mean to burst your bubble, but I belive if the depth is greater then 3', a permit along with a huge pile of red tape is required here in MI.