Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Selecting a site I'm still in the "brain storming" stage but...

While I await my book from Pond Boss, I still can't help myself from coming up with ideas.

I've got 80 acres of high desert that has a big hill along the western side. I've been trying to determine what might be good for a pond... a sort of big pond.

Well, tonight I got the brilliant idea of terracing the side of the hill and digging the pond into that terrace! Probably not my best idea but it's certainly interesting! Almost 1/2 mile of water and a mile of shoreline.

How much run off area would it have?

Nice looking plan.

The first question that popped into my mind, is if you are in the high desert where is the water going to come from? Is there a big enough watershed to maintain a relatively full pond? If a pump and well is the water source to fill the pond, is adequate groundwater and a well/pump sized to maintain evaporation available? If so is the annual cost to run such a pump and well within means?

I drive by what would be a beautiful about 1 acre pond that is at the edge of the town I live near. A very good view right from the bypass highway. I say would be beautiful because it was a nicely designed pond with a cool island and a well constructed white arched bridge going to the island. The only thing missing is water. It stays about an average of 1/4 full with weeds growing up the banks where water should be. Someone spent quite a bit of money to build this nice pond, yet not enough water is in it.

I can only guess at the reasons for the low water because I do not know the owners(in an extremely wet locally flooding stage the pond will sometimes fill, only to evaporate over time to its 1/4 level). It obviously does not have enough watershed area to keep it full? Was that a design flaw or was a well planned from the beginning to fill it? If a well was used to fill it, did the owners find it too expensive to keep in operation? Or perhaps the property changed hands and the new owners not care about the pond? I can only speculate. I only know it would be a beautiful pond if it only had water.

If you are in the high desert, water source should be a big concern and the cost of maintaining water supply all be part of the consideration in the planning process.

If you have got the water, that much shore line would make it a very nice lake to fish.

Edit: Dave you beat me to the punch. I was typing while you ask the pertinent question.

About a section (1 square mile) would run into it during heavy rain (That drains into the northwestern end)and rapid snow melt but, other than that, I will need to rely on well water to maintain a good level. The big expense (other than the earth moving) will be sinking the well and then equipment maintenance since ALL of my electrical needs will have to be met by solar and wind (got LOTS of both in that area).

Looks like a neat idea hope it all works out for you.

There is a Pond Boss book? Where do you find and order them from?

Just Add Water by Mike Otto.
"Perfect Pond, Want One?" by Lusk

They will both tell you things that you will never know enough to ask or consider.

Call the PB office at 800 687-6025

Thank you I will look into it.

As far as water retention and well, etc. you may wish to think about what a "normal" size is, which may be considerably less than "full pool" to prevent loosing your sanity of trying to keep things at full pool. Water loss can be immensely frustrating, and based on the high desert comment, you are going to want the pond basin leak-free as much as possible. This means great compaction and possibly materials added to create a liner.

So if you set your mind to "normal" being 1 acre, but plan on the pond being as much as 3 when things are wet, you may have a better chance of meeting expectations. Excavate that 1-acre area deep enough to meet your goals, but plan your docks and so on for a great deal of water fluctuation up to the 3 acre mark.

It is too bad that gully nearby didn't run across your land, you could tap into that resource during runoff events.

hehehe..."expectations".... I learned a long time ago not to have too many of those!

The reality is that I haven't done even the first steps of exploring a pond other than "dream" using the maps of my land... It could very easily turn out that my soil is so bad that I'll have to reduce plans to a 1/4 acre swimming hole that dries up every July.

However, the opposite could just as easily be true. That area is strange when it comes to water availability. In one spot, about 30 feet above where that image shows my "dream pond", there is an abundance of very green grass. It's a tiny area of about 50 square feet but stays very green all year long. Everything around it is the normal dried up desert scrub and cheat grass during the summer and fall. Could there be a natural water source percolating up due to pressure from the underlying basin? Possible. It would not be the first time I've found springs high up on the side of a hill.

Soooo... I'll keep dreaming until I get out there to dig some pretty serious test holes. I have to do that anyway so a soil engineer can come out and evaluate the "mean high ground water" mark for my proposed home site for a septic system.