Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Somebody purposely breached my dam

I came home from work this afternoon a pulled up on the road to look at my dam from the truck, I had been concern with all the rain we had been getting (7”+ this week)and wanted to make sure that water was flowing through the overflow. That was working well but I noticed a trench developing directly over the drain pipe. This somewhat surprised me as I do regular inspections and had not noticed any issues before, I had removed a couple drain logs just earlier in the week. I came back down and got as near to the dam as I could with the tractor and walked down, it was then I noticed the trench had been dug with a shovel. There were several small piles of dirt and sod, and boot tracks all over near the trench. I quickly drove the tractor around the block to gain access (the road was flooded by the water that been discharged throughout the week, at least 2.5’ on the road). I carefully waded the tractor into the overflow and to the trench dumping 7-8 buckets and packing them down best I could. I experienced difficulties with some folks when I first bought the place (a couple guys smashed my car with bats and pipes totaling it, etc) but it has been relatively quiet for 10 years or so expect for the occasional trash dumping. Called a few of the neighbors and they hadn’t noticed anything today. One neighbor had driven through at about 1:30 and all was fine then, so I figured it happen between then and 4:00 as that is when I saw it. We had gotten nearly 4” of rain since last night so that time frame made sense as the boot prints didn’t look like they had been rained on. Needless to say I’m on full alert now. As a note this pond is 26 acres and floods no other property, it is a low bowl without an outlet so someone couldn’t be pissed that it was backing up onto their place.

Bryan

PS- How do I add the picture directly into my post?

Man, that just burns me up! I hope you find out who did that. You almost want to think it's someone down stream who wants the water considering that your lake does not floor anyone else's land.


When you click the link in your original post and open up the pic, right click on it and select View Image Info.

Copy the stuff that starts with "http....." and ends with "...jpeg"

Paste that into a reply area and then add [img] immediately in front of it, and [/img] immediately behind it, and when you post the reply, the image should be in the post.

I pity you man. If it was me and I went down to my pond to see something like that every blood vessel in my head would just pop. it's something how disrespectful some people are when it comes to other peoples property.

Thanks Sunil, you are my hero for the picture methodology. Only one problem with the downstream thought, there is no downstream. I am it. There is no outlet, not flooding anyone elses place even now on the upstream side. I just checked with the county road commission and they say they didn't touch it which makes sense, most are too lazy to run a shovel. Only have one neighbor that I haven't spoke to and he would fit in with the road commission for the lazy part, so that is doubtful. Maybe I have someone in my fanclub that I'm not yet aware of.

Bryan

The ground is quite saturated in many parts of Michigan. Quite a few places have busted above the seams. Your BOW, due to the rain, may be causing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of damage to other residences.

When Mother nature happens, we are not separate entities!

JKB,

There is no upstream or downstream issue, I am it. I am the end of the line. Water would need to flow uphill a minimum of 10' to even get close to getting out at the lowest point of my property. The upstream would back into my fields before going anywhere, I would say that needs to raise up close to 15' to impact even the road culverts. Believe me, there ain't no damage going on, a dam in one form or another has been here for 50 years.

Bryan

I would definitely report it to the cops.

Great minds think alike Dave, already been done

If you are the end of the line, Why?

That is a very serious offense ! People have been shot for much less.

Let us know what they say, with official reports!

It would be interesting to know for future reference, up here in MI!

JKB,

I guess I'm the end of the line because the good Lord made it that way. It is a bowl with no outlet, has always been that way. It has been that way for at least 100 years as it's been in my wifes family for that long. Maybe I'm missing the point.

Bryan

So then, the water that was flowing through that malicious cut in the damn just flows lower down on to your property?

Maybe some more pics, but I'm not fully visualizing the situation.

My great grandparents used to own a piece of property that had a nice small lake on it..After they sold it it was never maintained and kids kind of partied at it all the time.. Well, needless to say the same thing happened to that lake... Finally after about 30 years it was repaired and is a nice small lake again... Wish everyday they never would have sold it, would give my wife for that piece of property!!!



Did I just say that?


Just kidding honey!!!

Would that cut cause your dam to erode enough that it would fail? If so you have a bad enemy.

I'm glad you got to it before it became a serious breach.I think it may be a good time to buy a few game cameras.

Did they leave their shovel there? If it was me and I found out who it was they'd have a shovel up their you know what.

I'm with kenc, how much damage could that cut have done? Also, to dig that trench would take a looong time for one person and a shovel. Also, if this trench is above the drain pipe, wouldn't an emergency spillway have come into play soon?

SCARY STORY!!! hope you catch the col-prate and he stays away from my ponds! I dont get to see them every day!

Get a game camera..

That little cut, if left unattended, could have breached the whole dam with the rain that is coming down. You'd be suprised how fast moving water eroded dirt.

Glad that you caught it in time. If you hadn't, I'd hate to see what it would have cost to fix it and get the fishery back up to it's current shape.

Scott, how much water did you get?

Nowhere near enough. Maybe 2.5" last two days total up 'till now. I'll know more in the a.m. Pond came up between 4" and 5" as of 4 p.m. today. Still a good 4' low.......

It just keeps raining here Scott. Hopefully that will be the case at your location.

Update: 12:46 A.M. It's pouring!