Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Renovating a Pond or Lake? Pond Expansion

Morning All!

Below are some pictures of the current pond the neighbor behind me had build 15 plus years ago. When full its on my property (Just an FYI). We get along great and he keeps mentioning wanting to expand even further on to my property...something in which Im not opposed to doing.

About the pond: As you can see its a creek damned up and dug out. It fluctuates quite a bit during the 4 seasons. One of the biggest issues with it is we get a lot of run off from the property to the west which misses the pond since it was dug and has created a big erosion hole. If I'm to dig the pond bigger, I'd like to do so that it captures all this run off etc which would greatly keep the pond full.

Couple questions. Whats the best way to ago about doing this. Obviously summer would be the best time. My thoughts would be to trash pump the rest of the water out, dry it up for a month and then get a machine and dig it out. All the dirt will be keep on site with most going into creek.

Please ask me more questions as I plan for this! Thanks

Summer might not be the best time to do it. The soils must have enough moisture to properly set. Then, you just might have a long dry spell that would subtract from that moisture.

If you want to keep the fish in the pond, dig the new addition, leave a dirt wall between the 2 ponds. Dig the new part deeper than you want it to be. Once done, get the cover in there for the fish. Then break the wall. A lot of dirt will wash into the new area from the wall, but once the water stops flowing, remove the rest of the wall.

Texas is different than here. Here, the best time to dig is late summer/early fall because it's the dry time of the year.

Here is a rough idea of what Im talking about:

I agree with the above comments but another Idea I would at least consider is if you or your neighbor sold out and you had a great combined pond well managed and someone else moved in with a different attitude, if you know what I mean. Worse case people even die sometimes unexpectedly and then there you go with property and will issues if a family wanted to sell.

All that can be easily written up by friends, but often not so much by "new" neighbors,banks and or real estate folks etc.

SO, I would get that done and in writing signed and notarized for the future if needed.

Does the other larger BOW feed into your neighbors pond? How is it kept up and how is it fed, water-wise and managed for fish if that is what you are after. In shot will the other two ponds help or hurt your goals.

Then I would look at what ESS & DAV said. I would also consider maybe having culvert piping still between the ponds so you would be able to drive all the way around your pond if you wanted that feature. Otherwise, to access all of the pond you would need access to neighbors property ! Right? Just my thought.

Is your property overall lower than the other two ponds? It appears that way but just checking. You know in TX(I assume) you know you can restrict water flow but not completely stop it. By that I mean if water does not flow down stream because many factors, the creek bed general flow needs to be available for the next down stream owner, if there is one. Most people would not grip, but if you have a down stream owner that was getting some water flow and you completely redirected it, they might cause you an issue. If the water flow does not make it to them,if that is the case due to evaporation and other water issues above them tough, as long as the flow could get to them, however little. I hope you get what I mean.

As an example in my mind with a combined pond(S) if you wanted to aerate and the other owner did not, you could still aerate your side with some separation and not so easily if the two BOW were basically open, if you see what mean.

With some separation if you and your neighbor wanted you could have different species of fish with proper screening of the culvert(s)(although some challenge). I could see lots of different scenarios if the both of you wanted different goals, if goals are the same no problem.

I kinda assume the pictures with a blue dot is where you plan an edge to your pond and will dig back to your neighbors pond? If so and you have septic system in general most counties require 100ft. to 150ft. away from any BOW just like water wells. Check with you county for that info.

I am just a novice pond owner but the pros on here are going to ask you at some point what are your goals, how big, how deep, type fish, aeration, feeder(s) and such as that. It's helps them give you better answers. Current known facts on your neighbors pond would be good to now along with his goals as well.

As an example my average cost per/month on a 1 acre pond from new to (2012,2013,2014) is 140 to 150 per month. That is feed, aeration, chemicals and well. The cost will drop a little next year and then inflation will get me back up in costs over the next few years. The reason I said that is you and or your neighbor may not want to spend that much or may want to spend more, I would want to know before I jumped into a neighbor(s) pond management deal.

You can run a pond much cheaper(depends on goals) and of course spend a LOT more, but it would be good to know ahead of time IMHO.

I will shut up now, and hope you future holds lots of fun with your pond program however it turns out. I feel sure others will jump in here. Great looking potential from the pics and please keep them coming as you build your dream pond. Bob Lusk has a book on this site,(link at top of page) "Perfect Pond Want One" that could help you and has helped many others, if you want reading material.

Good luck and keep us updated when you can.