First off, thank you everybody for the wealth of information on this site. I've read through many threads. I only wish I had found this place sooner!

We are currently looking at a property on about 11 acres with a 1 acre pond. The pond was built sometime between 1972 and 1990. During that time period was dam construction pretty good? Should we have anything to worry about with a dam/pond that old? The other thing I noticed was it has 2 18" culverts that drain into the pond. They appear to be coming from the main road in front of the house, although I can't find any drains up on the road. If it is runoff from the road, would that be really bad and something to stay away from due to chemicals affecting the pond? I'm hoping maybe they were just natural springs that they had to cover or something and wanted to give the water a way out? The place is very very overgrown as the people that lived there died several years ago and it's been vacant for awhile. So I will have a lot of work to do if we get it.

I wouldn't worry about it if it was me. Not in Georgia where road salt probably isn't used much. Salt isn'tnecessarily bad anyway.

I'm with Cecil, and not worry about road runoff.

Check the overflow. If it is pipe is it in good condition. If it is just a spillway is it washed out. Are there any large trees on the dam, as they could eventually be problematic. Does the pond have decent depth. A pond that old could be badly silted in or deep muck. Full of weeds or lots of open water?

Just some things to look at and consider.

Thanks guys! I will have to look but I think it was only a spillway. I didn't see a pipe although things are very overgrown on the dam, mostly shrubs, so I will have to look closer next time I go out

Just make sure that if there is a fire hydran nearby that the water authority nows it will flow into your pond. I have had them scale the line and wipe out the pond here.

Hey Craig, what part of GA are you in? I've got 45 acres in Baldwin Co.

We currently are up north near Acworth/Kennesaw. We would like to stay up this way for work.
I am going to call the county tomorrow, don't know how much I can get out of them over the phone, but we'll see what they say. The last survey from 1990 didn't have any easement for the 2 culvert pipes, so I'm curious if the previous owner put those in himself or if another, more current plat exists.
I need to get some quotes on a new survey also. Anybody done a survey recently that would have an idea on going rates?

Craig

What does scale the line mean? The hydrant that I could find was about 200 ft up the main road, maybe 300-400ft from the pond.

Just curious, would it be a good idea to call up the NRCS? How can they help me before I actually own it, or do I have to wait till its mine before they would be of any help?

My neighbor said he paid about $100/hr. to have a 500 ft. straight line surveyed. A different company said it would cost about $1200.00 to survey about 3200 ft. straight line.

SCale is a build up in water lines from hard water deposits. Sometimes Water Authorities flush lines to prevent or treat scaling. Had a fish kill after having chlorine water released from fire hydrant upland of pond. This set off a chain of events that caused loss of disolved oxygen and had fish gulping for air.

I get my best rates by finding if a company recently surveyed joining properties. Generally they have already shot some of your survey points and already have some what of an idea of your layout. The last place I had done cost me $400 because the surveyer only had to shoot 1 point. He had already done 2 of the 3 surrounding properties.

Thats a great idea with the survey, thanks! I called around and the best rate I got so far was $1500 that included a .4 acre cutout so that the rest of the property could get and agricultural covenant placed on it.

Not sure what an ag covenant is but I have my property in a conservation covenant. My property taxes went from $8000/yr. to $228/yr.