Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Soil questions water loss in pond

Thanks in advance for all the advice and recommendations that are posted on this forum. I recently subscribed to PB magazine and can't wait for the next issue to arrive. I bought some land a couple of years back that had a 1-2 acre pond already in place. I believe the pond is around 30 years old and it's about 25 feet at the deep end. During the rainy season the pond is full. After that and by end of summer / fall, the level will drop about 6-8 feet, afterwhich it seems to stabilize. Numerous trees, brush, etc. had been allowed to grow on the levee before I became owner of the pond. Based on previous advice I received from this forum, I removed anything growing on the levee that was smaller than 6" dia. at 4' trunk height (or was it 4" dia. at 6' height?!?!) and left the rest which includes some pretty good size pines and hickory (24-30" dia.)on the back side of the levee. I'm pretty sure (based on limb lengths) that drip lines & roots from the pines have already reached the water side of the levee. Based on previous posts, it seems that removing these larger trees is not an option. I'm currently considering / pricing the various sealing options including bentonite, liners, ees-13, etc. My main concerns: If I leave the trees in place, what affect will they have on the various treatments / sealers. Also, is it possible or feasible to just drill a well a few hundred feet back from the inlet side of the pond and utilize it during the drier periods to maintain water levels ? Thanks again to everyone. I enjoy reading the posts and learn from every one of them. Best Regards. Jim

Jim, yes i agree, lots of good stuff on this site. I noticed on your profile that you are a home inspector. then you might have good knowledge of...at what depth can you get a good watersource if you were to drill a well? i had looked into drilling a well after i first started my pond. the thing that got me here was the depth i'd have to dig to get a good well supply. my house well is i think 300 feet. my neighbor had well drilled for his farm animals and it was i think around 500 feet deep. his ran around 5-8 grand. i can't remember exactly what the charge per foot was, and also depended on how much...i can't remember what it is but has to do with a "sleeve" like mechanism thru the first certain layers they have to drill thru/ the "unsteady soil" mark

Jim - Most wells run approximately $1500-2000 per 100 ft. PLUS the cost of the pump. We have been told that you need to have at least a 3hp pump, but that a 5hp is much better for use when filling a pond. We were also told by the driller to not to run the pump for more than a few hours at a time because you can burn it out and they are not cheap! I paid about $4500 for mine.

Lastly, I am so curious about all the postings where people just mention that they will dig a well. Is Colorado the only state where you have to purchase the water separately from the land for irrigation or pond use?

In Texas, at this time, water rights seem to go with the land. I didn't have to file for permits to drill a well or to build a pond. However, I have read about situations around San Antonio where water rights are causing a lot of legal problems.

Ranch girl, holy cow, i've never heard of such a thing...i always thought you dig a well on your property the water is yours....that's astounding news to me. sorry you have to pay for your water. i'd be curious as what other states have the same rule as in colorado. i'm not familiar with hp pumps...just gallons/minute...the one you paid 4500 bucks for ....how many gallons/minute is that one? the well drilling guy around here told me that for a house, you want 10 gallons/minute pump for every 2 bathrooms in a house. he said that pump was around 800 bucks, the 20 gal/min 900 or so and the 30 gal/min 980 bucks or so. anyway, just curious.

Oh yes, you must buy water rights here if you want anything other than a residential well, which allows you to support a home, water the lawn and fill the dog bowl. Anything else, like irrigation or filling a pond requires ownership of that water is a specific aquafer. For instance, I bought 27 acre feet (the amount I can use annually from that aquafer) from an aquafer around 900 feet below the surface. I even drilled THROUGH 2 other aquafers to get to this one - all for the express purpose of buying water that no one could tell me when I could use it or what I could do with it (we Colorado girls are not much for being told what to do). Anyway, I researched the potential of the other aquafers drying up in drought conditions and under projected population growth before I went and purchased this water. Now I don't have to worry about either in my lifetime. But interestingly enough, if I were not a nice person, I could sell this land and not include the water rights. They could not use the well and would have to truck in water or buy their own rights later and dig another well. Seems crazy? All true! Lots of people who have come to Colorado hunting have bought mountain property only to later find that they can't drill a well because they don't own the water. In truth, it is all the golf course owners and resorts in Las Vegas and L.A. that own most of the water that comes from Colorado and we are hard pressed to find people willing to sell any of their rights. I am often told that someday my water will be worth more than my 100 acres! Thus, the story of water in Colorado...

Oh.. another interesting point... we even have satellite detection devices on our wells to determine the amount of water used! It used to be that you were hung here for stealing cattle. Now it is for stealing water!

ylazyranchgirl, why do you want a pond? Please don't tell me to raise and catch fish. My wife could care less about my obsession.
Are there any other women who are the primary pond bosses? Are there guys with wives that are more than a little interested in having a good fishery?
And does anyone want to trade?

Hi Jim I just had a well driller come to my property and quote a well and since I am in North Alabama the cost should be pretty close to what you should expect with the same type of limestone shelf as us. My current well is 42 ft deep about 60 ft from the pond and I am able to get on the average about 3000 gallons per day out of it. I designed a float control system to keep from burning out the motor and normally runs for about 1 minute drains the casing and then fills for about 6 minutes. Not very good flow so I called about getting it deepened. There is a 300.00 charge to remove the present casing and do the set up then it is 15.00 per ft. So I checked on getting a second well drilled and it is 15.00 per ft no set up and includes 20 ft of casing for the top which is all we need in this neck of the woods with the Limestone. So I am going to put in a second one my next door neighbor hit good water at 60 ft and never runs dry so plan to go 80 ft.

Bob

Bob, you might not need a second well. I am in an area where you may or may not find water. I did hit a small stream that allows me about 300 gallons a day. Maybe not even that much. Since we time my wifes showers by the calendar instead of the clock, I installed a 2,500 gallon holding tank. I'm sure they make larger ones or you could use 2 of them. That way you could be replenishing your available water supply anytime you weren't using it. The sequence is from the well head to the holding tank; then to a jet pump then on to the pressure tank and then to the house and other places like the cow pens.

Dave

No we have good water all around me, the problem is that the well supplied the house up until about 15 years ago and it had not been used for a long time and has silted up the other 2 houses one across the street and the one behind me through the woods that were built before the county ran a line through here have wells about 60 ft and have great water although they only use it for watering around the house. I have designed a control circuit that pumps the water to a level 2 ft above the top of the pump and then shuts off until the casing fills up to about 6 ft below the surface so I am pumping as much in a day as the well will allow. It is just with the limestone silted up there is not much flow and takes awhile to refill the casing Was thinking maybe a quarter stick might help out to open a few more fractures in the limestone! We have a limestone shelf at about 15 ft below the surface and a large underground lake at about 60 ft in this area. You just have to get through the limestone to get to it. I am about 15 ft higher than the 100 year flood plain for our local creek.

Thanks to all of you for the great advice and information. Bob K.- I'll check with a local well contractor but I believe 50 - 100' range is about normal depth for these parts - similar to your area. ylazyyranchgirl: WOW! pretty scary thinking about those spy in the sky satellites keeping track of your water usage. I won't be surprised if a few generations from now, everyone will have to deal with something like that...a good reminder of how precious our water supplies really are and how fortunate one is to have a private pond..even a small one. Thanks again to all. Jim