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Hi everyone,
I have been lerking for a couple of years like a bottom feeder with planning, contemplating, taking notes and just plain wondering at times if I will be able to move forward.

Well, last week while I was away on business "The Wife" contacted me and said some heavy equipment drove up, unloaded and began clearing out around our old pond. Mind you, I had spoke to a pond builder about 3 months ago and he came out, looked the place over and said he would take the job but may take some time to get to me since he was on a job that extended each week for a couple of weeks. I did not have his number available at the time and had no way of contacting him.

I returned home from my business trip 4 days later and found an 18 year old kid on an escavator, all trees cleared except cyprus trees around the old pond and he wanted to chat about what I wanted to do. Talk about the deer in the head light look at 3 am? First time talking to the 18 year pond builder and find out I am 32 hours into the job, $100 per hour? Cotton picker, heart dropped into my swinging counter balances between my thighs.....

We chatted about what my desire was, the pond recently filled up with water from tropical storm Lee which the pond was almost dry except for just a bit of water at one end and 3-4 feet of muck. We decided to dig coming up the hill and build the levees on the lower side from the clay at a hight to prevent flooding from nearby bayou Waxia. I asked about how was he going to pack the dirt and he said the dump truck loaded would work....double cotton picker I thought....asked about a sheeps foot, he made a call, said he would have one in a few hours, $2100 for a week with unlimited hours and that would cover transportation, 60k weight unit so I agreed....now counter balances were dragging in the dirt.....Next thought was the wife, when she hears this and we haven't started digging I might be homeless by the end of the weekend....Guess I could have went and bought flowers for her huh? lol

Trying to post pictures but unsuccessful at this. Think I may have better luck applying to the drug cartels for a Product Manager...lol...just kidding...Can anyone assist with posting pictures?

Also have to say, this is one wonderful site, great folks, so helpful, freely giving of information, glad I found it


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Well, sheeps foot arrived, they unloaded it and the hand that drove it here hopped in the truck and drove off....I asked about a driver and the 18 year old looked me over and said, ever drove heavy euipment? Needless to say I spent the next 4 hours that day plus 8 the next day driving and compacting.....Forgot how much fun it was to drive heavy equipment....

Spoke to the wife about my pond project.....I'm not homeless as of yet and we are still on talking terms....for now....her only comment was just do it right the first time.....????


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I posted pictures by openning a photobucket account and pasting a link in the post. With a little trial and error, I figured it out (with the help of my 15-year old).

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Thanks RAH, I will give it a shot and see what happens.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/--Wb_k...onstruction.jpg

To explain a little about the project landscape, the land has a natural slope from west to east with a 6' difference in elevation so I decided to make a u shaped levee on the north and south side of the pond. We shot elevation yesterday and seen that the levee is just over flood stage so I elected to raise the levee another 12" just to make sure. There is a power line that runs north to south on the west side of the pond so I am limited as to how far the water at full pool can be.

With the last rain, the original pond bottom was holding water when the crew arrived so we elected to start digging on the west side of the pond for dirt and moved that dirt for the levee. We had about 6" of top soil when we first started digging and went right into the clay loom, at least down to 10'. The soil has, in my limited experience, the right amount of moisture for compacting. They load the dump truck, he drives around the levee, makes a dump, we spread it with the dozer and then compact it with the sheeps foot. We are keeping the layers of dirt about 6-8" for compacting. After a short time of drying time, the surface looks like a marble top, real smooth and appears to be real hard. I have watched the loaded dump truck travel on the levee and do not see much movement of the soil when the tires pass over it.

I am now 85 hours into the project and of yesterday evening at close of business.


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Sorry everyone, still attempting to get the photo uploading done for the entire album.

https://picasaweb.google.com/couppedeville/PondConstruction


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Is that a field of milo? You might ask the wife how many ways she knows of to prepare it for the table. Milo stuffed possum would be a little different from the fare offered on those offshore rigs.
But seeing that you're a sub surface completion foreman, I suspect you'll find a way to manage what looks like an extremely interesting project.

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Dudley Landry,

Yes, that was a milo field planted 2 years ago when I took the photo. Since then I have planted an assortment of fruit & hardwood trees this past March.

My original plan 2 years ago was to dig out the pond bottom after the milo was harvested and the take the muck and spread it over the top of the 4 acres. After it dried, plow it under a couple of turns and then plant the trees. Well, my original company I wanted to build the pond had become increasingly busy and never got around to it. This particular company was a recommendation from a friend so I looked into his dad doing it.

I have to say I am impressed with the work and performance of these gentlemen. The dozer and truck driver actually work on the New Orleans levee commission Monday-Thursday and work on Friday-Sunday building ponds with this company for additional income. I'm no expert but as they build up the u shaped levee 6-8 inches and compact it in with the sheep foot, they come back with the dozer and rig the center a few inches deep and dump the next load of dirt on top and compact it again. They continue this process all the way around and then do it again. He explained that he is binding in each level with the last level avoiding layers just being on top of each other. They believe that we are getting 95% compaction with this method but have no way to verify. I do know the driver says its like riding on a highway.

The wife has no idea how to prepare opossum nor that it is edible but some of my neighbors have great recipes. Switching food from the rigs for this stuff is a different fare to say the least. Ha, they have great groceries, carry around proof.

I have taken notes the last 2 years and build a spreadsheet for documentation, calculations, etc. When it comes right down to it, I really wasn't as prepared as I would like to be. I will get my overflow drains tomorrow since everything was closed Saturday. I was not able to successfully calculate my watershed but using goggle maps, I marked off about 60 acres of water shed and guessing the a 24" overflow on both north and south levee will be sufficient. As you may know, once the clay is at its saturation point, the water flows right over it.

Does anyone know the calculation to figure watershed if I have 60 acres and if 2-24" over flows will be suffecient? Thanks in advance...


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You'll probably find that 60 acres of watershed is far too much for keeping your pond at full pool in Louisiana. Try to arrange an overflow system that will outflow water from the bottom of the pond. If you still have what appears to be a duckweed problem, trying to run it out with some surface water might be a good idea. Also, try to get at least a 15 foot depth in an attempt to avoid vegetation growing from the bottom of the pond. Otherwise, unless the water from the watershed is nutrient rich, you'll be dumping fertilizer into the pond every spring in an attempt to get an early bloom to keep sunlight from reaching the bottom. Your wife is right in advising you to do it right in the beginning unless you enjoy fighting problems until you correct them or until you sell the property.

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I forgot to mention gentle slopes. Try to keep all slopes no steeper than 3:1. 4:1 would be even better. When you and your mower are headed down a steep bank toward water, screaming "NO NO NO" won't stop the progress of the mower. And screaming "HOLY CRAP" in an appeal to the Diety wom't prompt Him to suspend gravity for even a few minutes. And, no matter how long you sit on your underwater mower, it isn't going to suddenly float. Trust me on this one.

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Thanks once again for the advise. It is greatly appreciated.

I would say about half of the watershed is from farm land so nutrients will not be an issue. The other half is from old farm land that I have trees and quail preservation with natural grass.

Getting the 15' depth in the center will not be an option. The equipment is almost complete and I have about 4' of water. I will not have time to pump it out so I will have to leave it. The west side I have about 12-14' at full pool and with the thinking that this will be where the watershed enters the pond and the settlement will fill in this depth first and also giving me an easy option of lowering the water and digging it out if need be.

I was talked out of putting my drain from the bottom of the levee and have been wondering if that was a mistake or not. I guess I can still do it since I will pick up the drains tomorrow and the excavator and dozer will be here just for that purpose. My levees are almost complete so I will have to dig them out to allow for the drain to be installed. I do worry about seepage if I were to do this at the finishing stage.

With the duckweed, I was planning to hit it with chemicals, Sonar, before stocking my forage. Once the rains come this winter, I will have an idea if the drains will be sufficient.


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My slopes at the north, south & east side of the levees are 4:1 for 15' or so and then drop off for another 3-5'. On the west side , which is the entry of the watershed, my drop off is straight down for 3' and go out for 3' then drop straight down for another 9-10'. My thought process is if I or the children fell in, they could stand up and crawl out also, to keep the birds from having a feast on the small fish as well as grass growing. Being in Louisiana and near rice fields, crawfish ponds, bayou and slews, I am sure to have plenty of welfare birds in the area.


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Very best wishes. Enjoy your pond.

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Thanks once again.

I am sure the children will really enjoy it as much as I will if not more.


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couppedeville, perhaps you should research options, or consult a hydrologist or other engineer, before cutting through a levee.

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Could a siphon pipe be put in over the top (or just under the surface) of the levee and still suck water from the bottom of the pond?


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Dudley Landry, thanks for the advise, I will do contact a hydrologist before I cut the levee. In the mean time, I will research other options.

Esshup, thanks in advance for your suggestion and for another option. What size pipe would I need for a siphon with such a high volume of watershed?

How about this idea, since the levee is u shaped and facing the west which is going uphill, I cut a trench almost at the beginning of the levee on each side, bury the drain pipe, have one side of my pipe running down the inside levee, shoot elevation for proper full pool and set inside drain in like a medal frame to avoid floatation?


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Couppedeville, my lake, 13 acres when full, has an inverted V drain pipe. The lake side draws from the bottom, and the outlet hits a small dry creek bed behind the dam. It is a 14" pipe.

This has worked well for several reasons. One, if repairs have to be made, which they haven't in 10 years, there's little damage to the dam. Any work needed would be 4-5' above the water line. Two, as fresh water comes in, the vacuum pulls the old deep water out. I too have a tremendous water shed, and only once in the lakes history has it not been able to handle the water volume. And 3rd, I have a riser (4' pipe), that acts as the vacuum break, and I can adjust the water level if need.

All very cheap, and has worked perfectly for me.


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FireIsHot, thanks for the information and great timing also, I was about to walk out the door to head into town to purchase piping. The pond was about 1.5 acres before I began expanding and assume its about 2 acres now but will measureing it later today. I had planned to purchase 2-24" pipes to ensure it would handle the watershed but will stratch that idea.

Just thinking out loud, if I put 1-14" inverted v-drain and I feel uncomfortable with the watershed, I could always add another with ease. I will give this a try.

It poured down rain last night but I will get a few photos taken and post. I will keep them coming as I continue on my quest of making a dream pond.

Thanks once again to you and esshup for sharing suggestions and experiences. This is what I think is so wonderful about this site and how so many offer it without reservation to total strangers.


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Just a quick update, I was able to purchase a few pallets for 1$ each so I tied them in sections and installed them in the shallow end of the pond.

My 5 year old boy and 6 year old girl are right there with me each step of the way. They are so excited with the project, my 5 year old told his mom we they need to head into town, get 2 fishing poles, for he and sister, and get back home to start fishing...lol. Had to explain that we need some water first and then some fish before we can do that.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-MlylR0KmJx0/TqSX7gdgtkI/AAAAAAAAIyU/8dmuWXvIxmI/s128/P1020441.JPG

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-37uj6jVoynU/TqSWtUKt8rI/AAAAAAAAIyU/i_gDFUKtAPE/s640/P1020436.JPG


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