Thanks for the input CC. My guess is the pond is only about 14 or so years old and was dug when the house was built. I think we have decent clay around, but I don't know for sure and haven't done any testing of the ground. I know I have several neighbors with pretty big ponds, but don't know if they are natural or if they were installed. They do not seem to have the water level fluctuation I have.

How do you know if you have a ground water pond? Everything in my front yard slants toward the pond and it fills with a fair amount of the run-off of the gutters on my house but I don't have a concept of how much water that really adds. Before we bought the place there was a creek running nicely down the north side of the property but that was the last that I saw running water in it, which was mid to late spring so we'll see how it goes this spring.

I'm not afraid to ruin my front yard in pursuit of a great pond. The gf has blessed the project and her dad has some equipment he is willing to help with, though I doubt a long arm excavator...

I'm a bit nervous about water usage... My neighbor said I may have a spring but it's on the complete opposite side of my property, probably 500 feet away, and I haven't confirmed it yet. I doubt I can afford to dig a well (though Dayton sits on huge amounts of water) and certainly can't afford to pay the city to pump water in from the hose for any permanent solution.

Snort Coffee is a podcast about goofy stuff. Hope to add ponding to my list of hobbies.