Hello all! I am back after about 2 years, trying to get back to my small (slightly less than) 1/2 pond here in Gettysburg, PA. I want to install a concrete dam on the outlet of my pond where the earth has eroded away. The dam would not need to be any higher than 8 feet nor any wider than 8 feet. Currently I have a 10 inch dia overflow pipe that runs under the burm and out into the creek. This is too small to handle the flow when we get a lot of rain; consequently, erosion continues to take place. I want to put a pond drain into the concrete dam and also a larger overflow pipe to handle the excess water. Are there any plans or specs that would help me properly design and build the concrete dam. I have poked around on the forum but have not read anything that meets my need. Thank you.

Hello Ed, thanks for joining in and posting! Hang on for some expert feedback.

http://www.water.ca.gov/damsafety/docs/GuidelinesSmallDams.pdf

Ed post pic's of the pond and drainage issues, it will help us help you.

i dont know how much help this is to you, but ours works good. it was formed in concrete w/ 20' rr bridge timbers on top. before renovation it had a bad undermine on the outflow/back side, and i covered the aging bridge timbers with rebarred concrete set in deep footings.

looks like this:

before renovation
back side



after renovation
back side



front side


may give you some ideas anyways.

Gentlemen, Thanks for the great feedback and encouragement. We are currently under about 2 feet of snow and we have another foot or so coming down now, so it may be a while before I can take some photos to give you a better understanding of what I want to do. Thanks again.

This might be handy wilst planing/reading/discusing your project, helps me a lot to overcome obsticales or consume/understand plans drawings and explenations.
http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/water_pdf/swdmglossary.pdf

Dave
Great pictures and great work. Spillways that wash out are a constant problem. It looks like you fixed yours for good.