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#242937 12/17/10 09:31 AM
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I have a 1/2 acre pond that suffers from drastically varying water levels. Runoff is the only water source. The shoreline is very steep in most places and there really isn't a practical way to fix that. If it is full or nearly so it is great, but at times like now, it is very low and not very pretty or usable. Fortunately it is deep for it's size, about 18-20' if full, so I don't feel in danger of going completely dry.

I'm thinking about drilling a well so I can keep the pond full most of the year. This may also let me use the water for irrigation which would be a plus. Access to electric nearby for a pump and to get a drilling rig in is not a problem.

Would like to here from anyone who has done something similar. Things to consider in my planning, potential pitfalls, cost, lessons learned, etc.

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Originally Posted By: torchroadster
Would like to here from anyone who has done something similar. Things to consider in my planning, potential pitfalls, cost, lessons learned, etc.


I used the house well to help keep my pond up this year. While I couldn't keep it full, I was able to keep it about 12"-18" higher than surrounding ponds in the area.

Planning: Make sure you have enough water flow out of the well to fill the pond taking into consideration how much water leaks out. If I was to drill a well specifically for the pond, I'd rather drill one that will pump out a huge volume of water in a short amount of time and rig it up to an automatic float system so it would turn itself on and off if I wasn't at the pond on a daily basis.

My reasoning is that if I have to pump cool water into the pond continually, I might keep the water temp down, maybe too far for optimum growth for warm water species if I was continually adding cool water (as I would do if I didn't have a lot of flow). Adding a big shot of water might let it warm up before another shot was needed. I'd also look into adding the water to the lowest (i.e. deepest) part of the pond. That way you wouldn't be diluting the warmer top water and you would be adding oxygen to the cooler water on the bottom.

I don't know how cold it gets by you, but here I would need to plan on keeping the line going to the pond unfrozen the whole year, or drain it for the winter.

I know the water here is good to put in the pond. Cecil has high iron, so he needs to remove some of the iron before it goes to the pond. Also, well water has zero or very little oxygen in it. It also could have dissolved gasses in it that would be detremental to the fish. If you were to run the water over a bunch of rocks, splashing it around before it entered the pond it would add O2 and remove the dissolved gasses. Cecil did the same thing by running the water thru a stacked column of buckets filled with hollow plastic spheres.

Pumps wear faster when they are shut off and turned on. For something like you are describing, running it without a bladder tank is best.

For water volume, my wells' output is 28 gpm. That isn't enough to keep up with the leakage from my pond AND fill it more than 1/4" per day. If I were to sink a well for the pond it'd have to be 75 to 100 GPM.

Costs vary too much from region to region. Electric would be easy to figure, just go on the hp rating of the motor. I'd put a double or triple screen at the bottom of the well if possible - less to plug up. The house well has a double screen (it's a 4" well) and the driller said it was capable of pumping 100 gpm with the appropriately sized motor.


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My friend, I feel your pain in the toll that lack of precipitation has taken on our ponds. I purchased a 20 acre property in north-central Oklahoma about 7-8 years ago. There was a beautiful 3-4 acre stocked pond on the place along with peach, pear, apple and pecan trees. The gentleman I purchased the property from had sunk a well specifically for the pond and I have kept it running at about 25 gallons per hour almost constantly since I bought the place. The cost to run a one-half h.p. pump 24/7 is $300+ per month in my area. That size pump is not keeping up with the water loss due to natural conditions that we have experienced this year in that size pond. Maybe it could in yours. More research would probably be warranted. My inlet is underwater in a shallower part of the pond and I honestly don't know if this has had a negative impact on it or not. During the summer I became concerned about oxygen levels and as a partial, simple, and cheap measure to help oxygenation, I installed a venturi tee to my pvc pipe inlet to the pond. This is the same device used in hot tubs to mix the air bubbles in with the water. No pump or electricity, the air is drawn in by the stream of water passing by an air inlet tube. Kinda cool. Plus the cool water will tend to hold more dissolved oxygen, until it warms.
I also learned, as the water level decreases, that my pond has a sandy bottom. The higher I keep my pond, the more weight there is pushing down on the water column, increasing the rate of loss through the pond bottom. As the pond level decreased over the last several months, I began to notice two high ridges at each end of the pond. I am assuming that these used to be the north and south boundaries of the pond. When the former owner put the well in, he just let the pump run until the pond reached its next highest natural level and that's probably when I came in the picture. Bottom line...filling from a well is possible, but can be an expensive venture if starting from scratch, not to mention the continuing costs. Good Luck!

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rusleepy, thanks for that informative first post. Tell us more about your pond.


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Torchroadster,
I'm very interested in what you have brought up. I've recently built a pond in East Texas. With the lack of rain, there is very little water in it and I'm concerned I have less watershed than I need. Maybe I'm being too impatient. I've been considering looking in to having a well drilled.

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An acre is 43,560 square feet. One acre of water, one inch deep, is 27,000 gallons. So, figure the # of gallons your well can produce.

If we use Scott's(Esshup) 28gpm well as an example, he can pump 40,320 gallons if the well runs 24/7. Costs per kilowatt vary regionally but trying to keep up with leaks, evaporation, trees sucking water, etc. can get pricey.

Trees? According to Lusk in Perfect Pond...Want one? a Texas Tech study shows that a willow tree with a 30 ft canopy will transpire 400 gallons per day.

So, calculate the size of your pond, and look at your weekly water loss. Then figure out the gpm of your well ON AN ONGOING BASIS to figure out just how much water per day you really have a available in a 24 hr period. Calculate the cost to produce the water. Calculate the cost of the butt kicking you'll get if the well runs dry while your dearly beloved is taking a shower.

It may just be cheaper to drain and fix the dam or try to alter the runoff area.


It's not about the fish. It's about the pond. Take care of the pond and the fish will be fine. PB subscriber since before it was in color.

Without a sense of urgency, Nothing ever gets done.

Boy, if I say "sic em", you'd better look for something to bite. Sam Shelley Rancher and Farmer Muleshoe Texas 1892-1985 RIP
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Thanks for all of the great responses.

I know trees are a big contributor to my water loss, but for a number of reasons I don't want to take many of them out. I did cut down a big willow tree this spring near the dam, but the pond is still lined on 3 sides with cedar, oak, and pecan. I will certainly look at the vegetation closer and thin what I can, but I don't expect to practically make a big impact in this area.

I have a public water supply for the house and in fact have a deed restriction that requires me to use it so this well would only be for the pond and irrigation.

I get the point about the cost of running a pump and will surely do those calculations before committing. For my small 1/2 acre pond I just calculated I can add 1" of water in 8 hours at 28 GPM. That doesn't seem too bad and is certainly way more than the rate I'm losing water. I can understand it would be a very different situation on a larger pond.

If anyone wants to check my math:

0.5 acre = 21,780 sq. ft. * 1/12 ft = 1815 cu. ft or 13,576 gallons per inch of water level. (7.48 gallons/cu. ft.)

13,576 gallons / 28 GPM = 484 minutes or 8 hours to raise the level 1 inch.




Last edited by torchroadster; 12/18/10 10:36 AM.
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Sounds about right providing that the soil that the extra water covers leaks at the same rate as the soil that is covered by water now.

I found that the extra water depth =more soil covered by water = more water leaking out. It didn't leak any faster per sq. ft. of pond bottom, it was that since I covered more soil with water it came close to a point of equilibrium. What I was pumping in was leaking out at the same rate.

My pond is filled by soil run-off in the Spring, but it also is dug into the water table. The soil was sandy; not enough clay to seal the pond from seasonal water table ups 'n downs.


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Originally Posted By: esshup
Sounds about right providing that the soil that the extra water covers leaks at the same rate as the soil that is covered by water now.

I found that the extra water depth =more soil covered by water = more water leaking out. It didn't leak any faster per sq. ft. of pond bottom, it was that since I covered more soil with water it came close to a point of equilibrium. What I was pumping in was leaking out at the same rate.

My pond is filled by soil run-off in the Spring, but it also is dug into the water table. The soil was sandy; not enough clay to seal the pond from seasonal water table ups 'n downs.



I might be hijacking this thread, and if i do, im sorry...

Esshup

I am building a 3 acre pond that is a small revine that is being dammed up. My contractor wants to dig down to the water table in a few spots to "break open the springs" He dug a 10 foot test hole, and I had 3 foot of water in in 24 hours later.. I also live in west texas where it hasnt really rained in 1 year and we are seeing our 40th day above 100 today.

Should I be concerned as many have posted about having an opening to the spring or water table? Or is this a positive like my dirt man says...

How has yours done over the years?

thanks


dustin

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Dustin, If I had my druthers, I'd druther have a 100% clay lined pond that isn't attached to the water table. Now, that's tempered with the fact that the pond is roughly 300 feet from the well, and I can pump 25 gpm into the pond.

On reflection, I'd still want that even if I didn't have a well close by. BUT, I'd want more than 10' depth. Another friend has 12' depth in his pond that also is a water table pond, and last winter he only had 4' of water in it.....

Another friend has a pond that is clay lined. He does have a slight amount of surface run-off entering the pond most of the year, and he only drops 9" to 12" all year.

I have two small stock tanks near the house sunk into the ground to act as small ornamental ponds. One has a fountain and is 300 gallons, the other has no fountain and is 100 gallons. The 300 gallon tank will drop about 3/4" per day due to evaporation. The 100 gallon tank will drop about 3/8" per day due to evaporation. If I stop the well water going into my pond, in this weather I will lose (due to evaporation and seepage) roughly 2" per day because the pond is higher than the groundwater level.

If the springs that the contractor wants to open up will be near the top of the water column in the pond once it's filled, than I say open 'em up and make sure the rest of the pond basin is properly lined and compacted clay. If they will be near the bottom of the pond, I wouldn't. They will act as a drain when the water level gets low, or is lower than what you want the water level in the pond to be.

He dug down 10' and you had 3' of water in the hole. That means that from soil level, you'd have to walk down 7' to get to the water.......... At a 3:1 slope, that means that the pond circumference would have to be 42 feet bigger. That's a lot of dirt to be moving.

Another downside to the groundwater pond that fluctuates, is where to put cover. If it were properly placed, lots would be out of the water when the water level was low.

Weeds and greenery around the pond is another issue. Do you want plants growing around the edge of the water? That's very hard to do if the water level fluctuates more than 3'. Or are you willing to put up with mucky soil around the edge of the pond if the level drops?

If the contractor doesn't properly compact the soil, that'd be a good "out" for him. "You wanted the springs opened, and the water is going out them. That's why the water level in the pond is dropping so fast."


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