Hi All!

Recently I was approached by a road construction company doing work in my area and they would like to dig a tank in exchange for the dirt they will remove from my property. Are there any specific questions that I need to be sure to ask? It is all happening so fast and I can't possibly think of all of the questions. I'm sure they do this all the time but what can I expect from them? Will they engineer it or just dig a hole and build a small dam? So many questions and so little time.

They only need about 5000 yards of dirt so by my estimation it will be a pretty small tank...maybe 90x90x15 deep or about 3/16 of an acre. Short term it would be used to water a few cattle but eventually would like to expand it and turn it into at least a half acre tank.

If anyone has any advice or past experience with this please drop me a line.

Thx.,

toddtx797@yahoo.com

Reach out to James Holt within this forum. He just did a similar project last year (or the year before...?)
You can send him a PM.

Did it...waiting for his response...Thanks!

If your soil won't hold water, you will need to bring in some clay to line the bottom (some suggest a minimum of 2' thick).

I doubt the road crew has that factored in, but you never know.

Then, consider what your sources of water are going to be. Do you have enough run off to fill the pond, or are you using well water?

I had a sample hole dug by a construction company earlier this year. They went 12 feet deep and it seemed at a glance like it would hold up well. However, they didn't test for PI because they could tell that the soil wasn't sandy enough to meet the state's requirements for the project. When they begin digging and get to a good depth I will collect a sample and get with the ag extension office and have it tested.

And I'm sure the construction company hasn't factored that in. They just want the dirt. I will just have to cross that bridge when I get to it I guess. As for now I will just pray that it works in my favor.

The runoff shouldn't be an issue. There is a washout that is about 3-4 feet deep that carries water during rains. It doesn't flow great but it does flow. There is also a smaller washout that intersects with it near the edge of the property line. The smaller washout picks up the overflow from a tank slightly uphill on on the next piece of property. With a loader I'm sure I can more accurately channel the water in the direction I want it to go. I have plans to put the dam near the intersecting points of the two washouts to take advantage of both of them.

What are my alternatives to clay and how much to these options cost?

Thanks for the help.

I'm not to experienced in pond building, so we need someone else to chime in.

Can I get a witness?

A couple of considerations.

First, a road crew may not have GOOD pond building experience. There is a lot of difference in construction dozer work and building a home for fish.

Second, their objective, it sounds like, is to get free dirt to build a road. If the hole they make in the ground doesn't hold water they will be down the road and you will have a mess.

Ask them where they intend to get the clay for the core. If they don't understand the importance of that, I would back away from the idea.

Thanks for the input. As it turns out there is very good clay beneath the topsoil. I will perform a bucket test within a day or so to verify. Trees were cleared a few days ago and stumps removed. They cleared about 1.25 acres of trees from the dig site. Next they scraped the topsoil and placed it in piles for use later on the pond edges and dam. They intend to build the dam last because they will be digging for a few months as they need dirt and don't want the pond to begin to fill if rains come. All in all, I'd say this project is coming along nicely. I will post pictures soon.

And the rains came about 2 hours after writing this. Guess I'll have to go see if the water is puddling pretty good this afternoon.

Thanks again for everyone's input. Without it I would have no idea if things were proceeding properly.