Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Selecting a site A couple questions

Hello all. I'm new to the forum, and might be building a small pond next year. I'll have access to two abandoned wells, one of which is full of water. So, the question is, what or where is a good place to send or get a water test kit, as well as does anyone know how far a pond must be from a river in general? I can't find anything for Iowa about permits or anything.
Thanks.

Welcome to the forum from a fellow Iowan. You are in the right place to learn about building and maintaining a pond. The experts will hopefully step in to help answer questions for you. I would highly recommend you contact your county NRCS office to begin the process of pond building. They were invaluable when I built my pond in 2012. They can help you with all the questions you have about permitting, soil suitability, drainages etc and it is all provided free of charge. In addition, they also helped arrange state funded cost share to have the pond built. In my case, permitting was a major PITA. I ended up needing permits from the Corps of Engineers, State Historical Preservation office, NRCS and three from the Iowa DNR. It took two years for the permitting to be finalized, but once you get your pond built and get it up and running, you will never look back.

In the mean time, give us more information on your goals. Will the pond be for swimming, trophy fishing, or so the kids can catch a bunch of fish? Is there natural flow into the proposed pond site from a stream? What is the acreage of the runoff? Will the nearby river flood and reach the pond on an intermittent basis? The more info you can provide, the better advice the experts can give. Again, welcome to the forum.

Welcome Slab. What size pond are you looking to build? Generally, depending on size, runoff from rain is used for filling ponds. I had my well water tested by the County.

Also, generally speaking, a pond should be out of the river's flood plain. As Dave pointed out there can be lots of regional regulations, the river may have as governing river authority etc etc.

Sorry, I've been off my computer for a couple days. It will be in the river's occasional floodplain, So that will be an issue. It will be mostly to prevent flooding of my food plot from runoff, in combination with a marsh that I will be building. I doubt that soil will be an issue for me after doing some reading on the site, as this ground will stay wet for over a month after a single 1-2 inch rain.
I plan on stocking it with the general gills and bass for enjoyment during the winter, spring and summer, just as a retreat in the woods. It will not be very big, 1/8th acre tops, so I plan on doing feedings until I see how well it can sustain itself. And with 2 abandoned wells that still flow, droughts shouldnt be an issue I wouldn't think. Oh, and there is a ton of runoff. Well over 20 acres that flows into that area.

For a 1/8 acre pond and a well, you can fill it with 40 gallons per minute in less than a week. So, you don't necessarily need a watershed. If that's the case, think about raising your pond above the floodplain with a levee...if that makes sense. Then, you are immune from flooding. But, with a 1/8 acre pond, it's not hard to start it over after a flood. The main loss will be time spent to get it where it is before the flood.

To answer your question, yes, start with a water chemistry analysis of the well. We send ours to Texas A&M's soil sciences lab. Plenty of parameters checked, for $25 per sample.

soiltesting.tamu.edu/files/waterweb1.pdf

Excessive runoff and resulting flow through can cause problems. Need an overflow structure that can handle the volume without damaging the dam and can be stressful on fish. Best to match watershed with the size of pond.