Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Building a dam need help with a (retention?) pond

i have no clue what type of pond this is. i assume since it's around farmland and my chicken farm, it mitigates flooding. so, what is best option to plug up the second arrow so i can start raising game fish?

i've read people use concrete bags but that seems a lot. what about 2x6s? maybe even some wood treated telephone poles (yes, i have those lying around)? the arrow denotes water direction as well

You say it is your chicken farm, so I assume you were not around during construction phase?

It could have been a "borrow pit" to get some dirt to use when making the "pads" for the chicken buildings to sit on.

We built a turkey grow out system about 25 years ago and we had to move quite a lot of dirt to get the pads for the buildings to drain properly and to get some elevation for the buildings so the water would stay away from them so it would not run under the foundations during significant rain events. Still had a little problem with that on one end of our brooder.

So that would one possibility, a place they got dirt from so they could build up the pads for the buildings.

That would be a best case scenario as the water should be "good". If it is some sort of runoff catchment for litter storage or something, the water could be bad as in high nutrient load. But I would suspect it would be obvious as it would be green and nasty and most likely part of your waste management plan for a confined animal unit if that was the case.

Just guessing here as I do not know your situation.

I did not actually answer your question.

Dirt, as in a terrace would be my suggestion. We built a terrace from dirt to bring in about another 8-10 acres from our corn field to catch the runoff and give us a larger watershed to fill the pond. If I get more time later tonight will download a larger picture from google earth to show what I mean.

thanks. dirt, we don't have a lot of but we have a lot of leftover clay.

you mentioned the nutrient runoff. i noticed that in the past 3-4 years, that pond hasn't grown any algae at all. before then it was pretty bad and i would have never considered damming off the pond. but now with all the rules and regulations about how we house the manure, i think that's finally paying off.

what i should do is test the pH of the water first before i even consider anything.

How old is the pond?

If it is old, and has seen a lot of sediment wash into it, I'd recommend draining out as much water as possible, digging out the muck, and packing the outflow with clay in 6" lifts, compact with a sheepsfoot or loaded pan scraper, and repeat until you have the correct elevation. Put in a overflow pipe to get rid of excess water from heavy rains.

I may have misunderstood you original question. Are you trying to divert more water into the pond? Or create a dam so the pond will fill? Is that a ditch that runs into and back out of the retention pond?

Having a hard time understanding exactly what you are trying to do. If it is a ditch that needs dammed up so the pond water level will rise, likely an earthen dam is what you would want, with an overflow pipe or spillway. Clay would be the best material but it would need to be tied into the subsoil and compacted properly so it would not leak. If you just pile it in the ditch over the top of old grass or top soil it would likely leak.