Hi, I'm new. I have 160 acres in Kansas and only one waterway to dam up which gives me about an 80 acre watershed that would support a 5 acre pond in my region. The Army Corps of Engineers office has determined my property contains a "high water mark" and building a pond of any size falls under their jurisdiction.
A local engineering firm told me that it would cost approximately $25,000 just to submit the initial phase of the application, and from their experience, the Army Corps is not fond of issuing new pond permits due to the Clean Waters Act. In fact, the firm had recently represented a rather well known and deep pocketed individual who just wanted to renovate his PRE-EXISTING eight acre pond.....spent SIX FIGURES going through the application process....and the Corps denied the renovation!
I spoke to the Corps officials directly to see if there is any way of building a pond without their "jurisdiction". They said that any pond with a dam height greater than 25 feet or holding more than 50 acre-feet of water is subject to their purview....and probably would not be approved in this day and age. They said, thirty years ago, they could have just rubber stamped it no problem....the Clean Waters Act has put a halt to anything except cattle ponds less than an acre in size.
They said I best look to purchase a property with a pond already on it....meaning it'll be 30 years old, silted in, and out of balance...and I'll never get to build my "dream pond".
So....how is it that I'm reading about all these Pond Boss members building new ponds multiple acres (5, 10, 15+) in size? Who can I call for help?????
