My pond is about 2 years old, 3/4-1 acre, about 14 feet at the damn and kind of in a ravine. I have a 3 year contract with the USDA. It will be up after this november, It has not yet been stocked, but the coppernose will be put in it this Wednesday. I was thinking that in the future, maybe a year or two, i could increase the size of the pond a good bit by only raising the dam slightly and the spillway due to the gradual sloping of the upper(shallow) end. I can probably almost double the size(mostly length) of my pond with only about 2-3 feet of increased damn height. the side banks are very steep and have plenty of height above the present water line to hold alot more water. I guess the only issues are if the added dirt on top of the damn can be made to hold, and the possible problem of adding more fish for the increased size of the pond. Any info will be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Two thoughts, first, when you add height, you need to add width. Since water weighs 8.14 pounds per gallon, adding two or three feet significantly increases the pressure on your dam.

Secondly, adding a lot of two to three foot deep water will significantly increase the water weeds. Weeds grow in water that is shallow enough for the sunlight to reach the bottom. Pond edges are recommended to be steep in order to minimize weed growth.

Oh yea, lastly, it is dam when you say it nice. Add an "n" at the end and your cussin.

LOL sorry bout the "damn" i got it right the first time. Just habit i guess. the banks are steep on the side, but still sloped enough that it would add width also, i'd guess about 10-15 ft per side extra width. the "dam" is about 20 feet high on the backside and slopes way out. i guess my best bet is to have an engineer come out and look and see what he says, hard to describe it on here without bein able to show it. thanks for the help though

Raising the dam raises several issues. They include (but are not limited to):

* state and local regs on capturing surface water. Here in Texas, generally (big word) landowners may capture up to 200 acre feet without a permit. It's more restrictive in other states.

* dam construction. As pointed out by the previous post, water weighs 8 pounds a gallon. Make sure the structure can handle the extra load.

* spillway. A pond is designed to trap water, yes, but you must be able to release it, too. Is you spillway adequate to move more water?

* leaks. Raising the dam could send the water level into cracks and fissures that previously did not come into play.

* trees. Many species of trees suffer when their roots are inundated. As a West Texan, I view trees as a precious commodity. Consider.

Get professional advice before you embark on this project.

Mark McDonald
Editor

As another consideration if you raise your dam you will have to strip off the top soil from the front above water level.the top and back just to get good clay to adhere I even try to cut a key way down the middle to prevent any leaks from showing up cause if it leaks between the new and old part you could have some major repair bills.Then adjust your dam to a 4to1 slope and reinstall your top soil and seed as soon as possible to prevent erosion and good luck.DOC

Keven,

What do you mean when you state you are under conrtract with the USDA. Just curious.

Russ

Sorry, the was meant to be CONTRACT.

R...

i built a 2 acre pons about 2 1/2 years ago,about 3 months after completing pond i added 1 more acre of water to it.i dug out the shallow ends and did not add any fish,i just let the rain fill the pond up.my fish took to the new area and everything was ok.approx. 5 months ago i added another 1 1/2 acres to the pond again,this time i did add fish.i let the water flow over the dam to fill new section and put fish in new section.i then waited approx. 2 months before i removed the dam to make it one big pond.i have had good luck with ths method.