Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Building a dam Putting water on core/keyway soil as its built up

We'll be starting on a core for a new dam soon and anticipate needing to water the layers as its built up as its dang hot and dry. Compaction will primarily be done by wheeled pan scraper/tractor. I could either use a 275 gallon tote in the back of a pickup and gravity feed water, or pump out of an existing pond if I buy 300-400 feet of hose.

2" roll up discharge hose is cheap but also may not stand up to a lot of abuse dragging it around, nor a lot of pressure. Was thinking I could make a "shower head" nozzle by taking a short piece of 2" pipe, gluing on an end cap, then drill the cap with lots of holes.

I really don't know the volume of water that's going to be needed to wet it down good, but not so much the soil "extrudes" out from under the tires.

Anyone done this and have some input?
Thanks
Red

A two inch pump and an adjustable fire nozzle works good. It will spray quite far.the hose can stand quite a bit of abuse if you are a little careful.

Thanks CB100. Did you have the nozzle on the end of a "lay flat" discharge hose? Both the hose and nozzle manufacturers do not recommend it - assuming the pressure developed would pop the hose. But if it worked for you I would try it.

I would use 2" poly pipe for most of the run and the discharge hose for the last 50 feet. The cheap blue discharge hoses won't stand much dragging at all when water is in them. I use the "red" discharge hose.

I used the blue discharge hose. It worked fine it would spray about 150 feet. Never blew out a hose and I have used it quite a bit.

If you use a nozzle, please don't shut it off suddenly. Also, sudden shutoffs like running over a hose can damage a centrifugal pump.

I don't shut it off. If I am working by my pond I just let it spray into the pond. If I am not by the pond I let it spray a little where it won't cause problems.

Just thought I would report back in. A 2" plastic adjustable fire hose nozzle you see on Amazon worked well on the lay flat discharge hose. The pump was run just above idle speed and still put out a plenty of pressure. Thanks for the input!

Fortunately a 2.6" rain took care of the majority of the issue.

Interesting note - with well moistened clay that easily makes a ball in your hand, a dozer (65EX) seems to do a fair job of compaction. We still ran over the core with a loaded pan scraper to pack it, but it didn't sink in much over the dozer.

Whew! We had started the dam so knew we needed to finish before any significant rain. So with last weekend's forecast for 2 inches of rain, last week we made a big push to finish it. Got the primary spillway pipe installed Friday morning, and kept raising the dam to finished height and emergency outlet. Still had a bit of smoothing to do when the sky opened up Saturday about 10 AM. 6 inches of rain later, I was nervous walking over the hill to see what I had in the valley. Dam was still there and pond nearly full. I slept better last night.

You are lucky. The rains keep missing us here. Creeks are just barely trickling, and ponds low.

Now you will need to work on sediment control and erosion control.

John, I'm down about 5 feet