Ok. So wife finds her dream property with big 6 acre pond and wants me to buy it. I've never owned a pond. Its was made for recreation maybe, its not a farm. It is springfed at higher altitude and was constructed with an 8ft earthen dam, and two smaller berms damming the rear and a side outflow. There appears to be no surface inflow beyond runoff in the small watershed.

It was built like 50 years ago, or more. Pond but was not maintained well. Main dam is covered in thick brush but no trees. hasnt been mowed in years likely. Owner said standpipe rusted out and he had it "filled in", so none is visible. It looks like there is vegetated spillway to side of main dam that hosts outflow, which is very small. I guess its the production from the spring? The pond is full, and the situation doesn't look inherently unstable with exposed erosion. I guess its been this way for years. Owner is elderly, been there 25 years. Didnt do much with it.

soooo... as a new potential owner, I want to restore this and manage it well. But I don't want to go bankrupt either since its just for wife recreation. Is this a RUN FOR YOUR LIFE situation, or should I look at this with optimism, lol. Is this a mainenance situation, or a complete rebuild? Because standpipe was filled in, will I have to dig it all up and rebuild the dam? I need solutions people that gets my wife into this place. comments welcome.

Welcome to Pond Boss. Do you know how long ago he filled in the standpipe? Do you know how deep it is, at the deepest area and around the banks? If it has filled in with sediments, and the whole pond needs dug out, it would cost a lot to fix.

I agree about finding out how deep it is, and the average depth. Ponds that have a lot of area where the sunlight can reach the bottom can grow a lot of weeds and algae.

You can put in a siphon drain, no need to dig up the old stand pipe.

6 acres is a lot of water to take care of if there are problems that the wife doesn't like if they crop up in the first summer you own it.

To date; how stable is your marriage? If Mama wants it...………..

Agree with Esshup re overflow.

Ponds can be money pits to do/maintain correctly but a lot of things are. I wouldn't consider it a run for your life situation.

I would consider a 6 acre pond a great resource as long as the dam is solid and does not represent a liability if it brakes. Take your time and investigate the pond (depth, plant growth through the year, and currently stocked fish, etc.). Plant life need not be seen as a problem depending on what you enjoy seeing. I maintain a natural edge with plants we chose and with initial removal of undesirable plants like cattail and willow trees. Maintenance on my mature ponds is very low and costs can be kept down by propagating your own plants. Most important is to enjoy the process and what you are lucky enough to have!

Lake may be a great place to fish, swim and get back to a peaceful place to just relax. Now I have to say that if you can keep a woman happy then your a better man than me

ok thank you for the input. I dont know how long ago he plugged it. Imagine it was 10 years ago. So I know the design max depth was 12 ft per old blue prints I am told. I don't know how much it is silted up. water is pretty clear, its a foot or two at the banks and tapers off. Visually, the pond edges are not overgrown with any plants, it just looks like a pretty small lake. It is classified by the state as a Low Risk dam.

If the thing pond is 50 years old and has never been dug out (i dont know), is it probable that it is highly silted up? is there a typical lifetime?

So I am prepared to invest 20-30k in this wife recreation thing, but I dont want to fall into 100k+

Thanks. Are you saying that the earthen spillway if correctly sized could handle routine outflow and flood discharge, and then a siphon is in place only if I'd need to drain it for maintenance or emergency?

Also, if the pond has is 50 years old and was never dug out, is it almost guaranteed to be silted up? The pond edges are not choked with weeds, cattails or growth beyond what you see in pics. Summertime satellite photos dont shown algae blooms whereas other ponds do.
[img:left]https://photos.app.goo.gl/AsFrsefPnUtNZQJW8[/img]

wow, beautiful. Wife would approve!

If so, then take your time and work on together. Been married since 1984 and wife has been a partner on our place since 1990. No way our place would be so good without her. BTW - she is from NY.

You want the siphon to handle the routine overflow and the earthen spillway is considered to be the "emergency" spillway to handle what the siphon cannot. A siphon can be installed with minimal digging and the inlet can be placed at the bottom of the pond to remove the anoxic water if no aeration system is in place.

You can most likely expect an inch to a few inches of organic material per year build-up in the deepest part.

The local NRCS office NRCS Website should be able to tell you the watershed for the pond and calculate how big of a siphon you would need to handle most of the rain events. It's a no cost consult for you, it's your tax dollars at work. The watershed, the vegetation and the type of soils all are part of the equation in how much water enters your pond.

With the conifers in the background I would be interested in seeing what the alkalinity of the pond is, and the waters' pH. That will also have a bearing on how the weeds/algae will grow in the water.

Thank you so much. It's a relief to know with a siphon system it's possible to handle routine outflow without having to dig up the whole dam. As long as the seal was done correctly around the old correlated standpipe, I guess I'd be in good shape. Question though, do these siphon systems work in deep freezing conditions? If there are periods with no outflow, wouldn't an ice plug form inside the pipe at the the equivalent water surface?

As for the conifers, would they make the lake more acidic? Is that a good or bad thing?

Nice looking pond! I hope everything checks out well so you can buy it.

You are absolutely correct about the ice plug, but then again how much flowing water would there be if it was that cold? ?

That's the reason for my question about the alkalinity and pH of the pond. As long as the pH didn't have a large swing from night to mid day it wouldn't be bad. BUT fish do best in a pH that is close to 7.0.

Thank you so much for your answers to pond questions. I ended up buying the property with the 6 acre pond! It's amazing. Just subscribed to PondBoss magazine. Can't wait to get started working on it. Jim

Congratulations!

Congrats looks like it is and will be beautiful for ya. Hope to see more pictures of the place when ya can.