After reading a lot of posts on the Forum, I decided to post my own project that I am beginning soon and hoping for some help with decisions that I have to make. I am renovating my existing pond, the dam is in good condition, but there is a lot of silt and it is not holding water. My goal is a recreational pond of about 1.25 acres. My plan: I have talked with a land mover and he is scraping the bottom and creating a middle depth of 12' with terraces around 8', with a sand zero entry for a beach area. For a water source I can either 1)trench in an irrigation pipe of 6" or 2) put in a 4" well. I figure I can use the 4" for an easy source close to the beach, and run a temporary pipe from 6" to fill it. Thoughts? I am thinking a windmill aerator to help with water clarity/quality. The 6 acres around it is being planted to Pheasants Forever floral mix and my wife figures the windmill will add to the surrounding. I will also be adding fish habitat and fish. Not sure yet of how much or what species, ideas would be helpful for that as well. I live in Central Nebraska. In the plan is also a dock. Nothing too big but something to play/relax on. The budget for my project is $15k. Let me know if you have any thoughts or ideas! Thanks!
Welcome to the forum! there are several good nebraska folk here on the forum who can help. It sounds like the information we need is how well your pond will stay full or if you don't mind running your well a lot.
What is your watershed that will keep the pond full? Do you know what the soil is like at the bottom of your pond? In other words when you dig out the bottom what will you encounter? Do you care if water leaves out the bottom or do you intend to try to rework the bottom to 'seal it' with clay, liner, etc?
If you have power to run the well you may want to price out a bottom diffuser aerator and compare efficiencies between bottom diffusers and windmill. IF you like the windmill for aesthetics fine, but if you need to turn the water over daily in a 1.5 acre pond with a windmill it might struggle. Also if you need to keep the water open in the nebraska winters a shallow water diffuser might be a more hassle free solution than keeping the windmill running in the winter.
I am expecting the bottom to be clay, or at least a large percentage. I explored the idea of something to seal it, but I am hoping it won't be needed.
There is a large amount of watershed, 50+ acres at least, a lot of it being cropland. I used to have more water in the dam due to flood irrigation, but I switched those acres to pivot so the dam doesn't keep the water levels as well. A local NRCS guy looked and believes the amount of grass/filter between fields and pond are enough to keep quality of water high.
I have been reading up on whether to aerate or not, and while I think it would be nice I'm not sure to what extent I will need it? Will I need to turn over the water daily? Do I need the water to be open in the winter?
A question, you said the dam was in good shape, but the pond wasn't holding water. Do you know where the water is leaking and does your contractor have a solid plan to fix that?
With 50 acres of water shed, is additional incoming water needed? I am in MO, maybe we get more rain than you?
Might want to give Teehjaeh57 a shout. He is a regular on the forum, lives a little east of you, and consults around the state of Nebraska. Be worth your time to pick his brain and he loves to talk ponds.
Don't know if this is a viable option for you, but sometimes new construction is less costly than a renovation. But if the pond is exactly where you want it, then you are kind of stuck with renovation.
