Yes, it is true the muskrats could have been there all along. But their dens would have been at the high water mark, making it unlikely to create a drainage path.

If you look at the picture above, there are actually two drainage ditches that connect to the creek. One near my house, and the bigger one on the other side of the pond. Calling them drainage ditches is prolly not a good use of the term. At the end of each is a large outflow pipe that is part of a system of drainage pipes used to control runoff (roads, etc). The one on the right is 5-6 feet lower than the one near my house.

The pond was initally lowered by cutting a new drainage ditch from the lower right corner of the pond to the large drainage ditch to the right of the pond. This lowered the pond by over a foot or more. After the road construction, the temporary ditch was refilled

As for the road construction, the area that I circled was dug up and down about 2 feet (or a bit more). They encountered no water in doing this because the groundwater level had been lowered by lowering the pond. (it is possible that groundwater from that direction may have aided in resupplying the pond since mountains are 1/2 mile to the left). They placed a liner (like a pool liner) in the hole, then filled with gravel, then dirt, then resurfaced. It is thought that water in the pond, or water working it's way to the pond now flows around this liner and into the road drainage system (and thus out to the drain pipes in the ditches). No culvert under the road bed! Prolly a big mistake.

Meanwhile, with drought conditions, the pond has lowered even more (evapaoration) to the point where the muskrats can now burrow into the bottom (or bottom edge) of the pond, creating new pathways to the ditches and creek. So when it rains, it possibly flows out there now.

Fixing the rat holes may allow the pond to fill with normal rain, but if there is a pathway out on the north end, it will continue to stay low (but not as low as it is now).

Brettski, you are getting closer with your questions. I had not thought about ground water seeping down from the moutains as a source for the pond. What do you think?

Mike

Last edited by SlackKeyMike; 08/05/08 05:51 PM.