Pond Boss Forums INTRO New Forum Member Introduction Just found this forum... Howdy from Northern NV

I was researching how to seal ponds when I cam across this forum. Spent a couple of hours reading the thread about sealing leaky ponds and decided this should be a good place to keep on top of.

I've got 80 acres of hilly high desert and want to eventually put in three ponds...or more. Each one would be between 1.25 and 2 acres to stay within the 20 acre foot limit.

Two of the ponds would be on leveled off portions of the big hill on one side of my property. Just gonna level off two places of about 3 acres each and dig two big holes in the level area of about 1 acre and maybe 25 feet deep at the deepest spot... gently sloping sides. These will be water storage for irrigation, stock watering, and fire suppression. A 6" or larger pipe would be buried in the bottom and run out the side with a valve so I can hook more piping to it for all of the above.

However, I want a pond to play in too! So, that one will be dug in a leveled off area near the home site. It will be at least 2 acres and very irregularly shaped. This is the one I'm having trouble planning. I want lots of gently sloping bank but I also want to stock it with bass, bluegill, and catfish so, I don't know just how deep it will have to be! Our summers are blazing hot and our winters will freeze the water to a depth of 1 foot or more at times.

Anyway, I hope to find all the answers to my questions in here...eventually.

Al Hefner

AlHefner, welcome to the site. You will get tons of info if ya ask enough ?s.
I'm no big brain but as to your fun pond, the more shallow area ya have the more weed infestation you're gonna get. Also with the weather you have ya should for sure plan on aeration.
My pond is very small(1/4acre) and my slope is 3-1. Today I spent about an hr float/swimming around it gathering up big balls of Chara with my feet. I also have a persistent Curlyleaf Pondweed problem. I don't like ta use chemicals, figured since I had ta give em up my fish shouldn't have em either.
Keep us updated and ask away, brighter guys than me will give ya good advice.

Thanks Bob-O! I don't mind pond weeds too much since I kinda grew up with weedy ponds anyway. As for "gentle slope", I sort of thought that some areas would slope from grade level to 10' over a span of 30' but, because of the excavation I'll have to do anyway, some places will drop from grade level down to 10' over a span of only 10' or less. Lowest area(s) to be about 15 to 20 feet. It really will be mostly a dug out, and compacted, hole in a leveled off area... one heck of a LOT of dirt/sand/rock to move but, I got places to put it!

Ahef, you probably know what ya want as far as the pond goes more than I can guess. Just mentioned the slope and weeds cause those factors effected my pond. Some plants are beneficial to a BOW. Bill Cody suggested Eel Grass and Hybrid Lilies, both of which I put in my pond and they are both doing well and providing cover for the small fish. It's the volunteer plants that cause me too much work.
I encourage you to give more details of what you would like your "perfect pond" to be.
Keep us updated !!

Al,

You are in a pond area that most of us probably don't know much about.

I do know that we haven't heard much lately from our good pond friends from northeastern California, near the Nevada border. I hope they didn't dry up and blow away. I do believe that their ponds may have totally dried up.

Although we have a lot of experts here on the site, we don't have a lot of members from your area.

It might be worth a call to Pond Boss headquarters. Bob Lusk (Mr. Pond Boss himself), and his trusty sidekick/business-partner, a world famous pond and lake builder, Mike Otto, may be able to provide some guidance. Both are very friendly and very approachable. If they can't provide guidance, I doubt anybody can. Please give them a call or e-mail/PM them through the Pond Boss office.

Regards,
Ken

Well, guys, it's all in the dreaming stage right now. I've been on Google Earth for several hours putting in contour lines for the existing topography at 1' intervals.

That way, I'll have a better picture of what needs to be done in order to even dig in a pond since I really do not have a good place to put a dam... wish I could afford to make an offer on the 80 acres to the east of me! If I could do that, I could build a dam between the hill on my western side and the hill in the middle of that 80 acres. Of course, that would open up a new can of worms since I would have to buy water rights, get more permits, etc...

On top of all that, I still don't know if I have enough clay to compact to hold water or not AND there is a lot of rock, basalt, in the ground and I don't know how deep that is either... It may all eventually be a dream and only a dream.

So, the "nutshell" version of what I want will change as I explore reality but, I would love a 1 to 2 acre pond, very irregular shaped, deep enough that my fish won't die in the winter, a few areas where I can wade out about 10 feet and only be waist deep but other places where wading that same distance will be over my head, a floating dock, a few spots within the pond of hills with weeds on them, a good mix of fish for eating and fun catching. You know, only the very bare basics...

Al, welcome to the show. You might want to consider buying Mike Otto's book, "Just Add Water". It answers a lot of questions that I'm not smart enough to ask. You can get it through the PB office or from the PB site here. It might just save you a lot of $.

Every area is different regarding soils. They are also different regarding pond and water regulations. Can you tell us what kind of water rights, etc that you have to purchase? In Texas, water rights come with the land. Or, at least, they currently do and maybe those regulations have changed without me knowing it.

Send teehjaeh57 a private message about SoilFloc Polymer Sealant. I think it will work for you even if you don't have enough clay.

Welcome to the forum!

In Nevada, soil and mineral rights do not come with the land surface rights unless the previous owner had purchased them and include those in the sales contracts. Water rights are something that has to be purchased (except for domestic well for home use or pond under 20 acre feet) from the state and ongoing "beneficial use" has to be demonstrated or those water rights revert back to the state. So, if I purchase water rights for my entire 80 acres, I can have a well or pond or stream, etc... but I have to show that the water is being put to beneficial use or I lose the water rights and someone else, anyone really, could purchase water rights for my 80 acres IF they can make the argument that they can put the water right to use.

It's a sort of strange state in that regard... If I have a pond over 20 acre feet, I have to purchase water rights... it's only $250 though.

Can you throw a few heads of livestock on the property and say it's to provide water for them?

Friends moved to Oregon. Property insurance was really expensive, but if they had livestock, the price dropped dramatically. They bought a few goats and fenced in part of the property for them. That was enough to satisfy the insurance company.

Showing beneficial use is actually pretty easy. One of the uses for both the ponds I plan on putting on the top of the leveled off hills, should they exceed 20 acre feet, is fire protection/suppression. I already plan on having 6" or larger pipe with valves coming from the bottom of those ponds and having lines to sprinkler systems for that purpose (Gravity feed from 70' above the rest of the property)... the high desert tends to burn easily! Another valid use I'll have for any and all ponds is wildlife support. Putting some stock on the place would also qualify. Irrigation for cash crops is another use that qualifies.