I have 300 acres in Greene County Georgia, and I have been wanting a pond for a while. There is a hardwood drainage on the property that looks like the perfect pond basin. Basically its just a low area where three or four deep drainage ditches meet up. Theres a spring that has water year round, and theres a pinch point where the dam would be built. My question is, can i just have a dam built without digging any of the pond out and just flood the whole area? Or would that likely cause leaking problems? Also, the pond would be pretty deep in some areas, easily over 30ft. Is that too deep for a bass pond?
http://s1100.photobucket.com/albums/g416/DZC0011/?action=view¤t=photo-60.jpghttp://s1100.photobucket.com/albums/g416/DZC0011/?action=view¤t=photo-59.jpghttp://s1100.photobucket.com/albums/g416/DZC0011/?action=view¤t=photo-58.jpghttp://s1100.photobucket.com/albums/g416/DZC0011/?action=view¤t=photo-57.jpghttp://s1100.photobucket.com/albums/g416/DZC0011/?action=view¤t=photo-56.jpg
Welcome to Pond Boss. A couple of thoughts.
Generally the dirt for the dam comes from the pond site so you would do some digging from there.
Piling dirt from a narrow spot is one way to build a dam but they usually leak badly and often fail. They need to be cored. This involves digging under the proposed dam site and filling the scooped out area with good clay to make a seal. This should be the width of 2 dozer blades. Make sure that the earth for the dam is packed using a sheeps foot roller every foot. Dozers do a poor job of compacting.
Does the narrow spot have room for a run around over natural ground? Sooner or later you will have a flood and the water has to go somewhere. How wide is the pinch point?
If the spring is in the area that would be under water, it could be a problem. When drought occurs the water table drops. If it goes below the spring, the aquifer will start taking water instead of giving it.
Heck no; 30 ft isn't too deep. In the drought that is hitting the part of the company that isn't currently flooding, lots of people wish they had 30 ft of water storage.
You might want to contact the Pond Boss office and buy the book "Perfect Pond..Want One?" It's about the best investment I know of.
Thanks for the quick response. When i say pinch point I mean its a little narrower than the rest of the basin, about 50 yards across. I would be hiring a contractor to build the dam, so I assume they will know exactly what needs to be done to build it correctly. There is plenty of good clay nearby on the property as well. The thing I am more worried about is, like you mentioned, the underground spring and the ability of the soil to hold water. Also, if the only dirt that needs to be moved is for the dam, would the construction be substantially cheaper than a pond of similar size that needed to be dug out? I put some pictures onto my original post to give you a better idea of what im working with. The area is approximately 4 acres, and the majority of the trees will be removed. I love the contours of the area!
Ranger10, don't assume that the contractor knows what he's doing. There are a lot of contractors that are good at moving dirt, few are good at building ponds that hold water.
If it's not built correctly, you'll be spending $$ all over again to get it right.
Well that brings me to my next question. Does anyone know of a reputable contractor in GA that has experience building dams? I definitely don't feel knowledgeable enough to oversee that job.
Give Otto's dirt service a call. They're in Texas, but I'll bet Mike Otto will have a reference for you. They are listed in the advertisers listing on here.
I have been wondering about finding contractors. It seems that there might not necessarily be a contractor near where I live. Other than here, where is a good place to find a contractor? I have also been looking for
excavators. I'm wondering if I can tackle some of the project myself.
NRCS has a list of contractors, but they won't give any recommendations. Whatever you do, research the contractor well. Ask to look at previous projects, and talk to the owners. PM RAH here. He's looking for a contractor too, and he's towards the center of the state.
Your description sounds similar to our layout. We had a topo survey done to give us an idea of the shape and depth of the pond when at full pool to confirm it was in fact what we wanted. The contractor then flagged the waters edge using a transit or some device. It was amazing how accurate it was - within 2" ! The core was dug and backfilled with red clay excavated nearby which then became the emergency spillway. Holding water not an issue since the creek bottom was for the most part saturated anyway. No digging out was done except for a small area to insure we had at least 30" of water to prevent excessive weed growth. Our contractor was out of Hodges, SC and I would highly recommend him. Clearing and building the dam and installing the pipe despite constant flow in the creeek was awesome to watch.