Thanks for the Welcome Jeff. I see you are about an hour east of my property. I read your pond build with great interest since yours is kind of close to what I am doing. Hopefully yours is not leaking to much and keeping up with the rain. Where did you find your pond builder? Was he local to your area? Nice looking pond by the way!!
Thanks
Bill
Bill, my situation was sort of tricky. I have a neighbor that owns a big dozer. He’s built ponds all over Ralls Co, and even helped build Mark Twain Lake. I’m well aware that a good dozer operator does not equal a good pond builder. But for peace in the neighborhood and being one of only two absentee landowners around, I went with him. He had help from two brothers that also build ponds as a side line, but also sell timber. They cut all the trees, and arranged for the timber to be sold. That’s another can of worms. I was there almost every day, and I think I came out alright. Our share of the timber sales was $6,000 I think, which went a long way towards construction costs. I don’t think my leak is too bad. 1/4” a day, and evaporation is probably most of that. The agent from the USDA/Missouri Conservation office helped pick the spot, test the clay, measure the runoff, and make recommendations on emergency spillway pipe. Part of my leak may be coming from around the pipe, I am not sure. If we can stay out of a drought I’ll be fine. Like I said, I almost stopped the build. One of the pond building brothers told me, if it was his pond, he’d stop. We were too far along, and there wasn’t a good second choice, so I elected to finish. Really glad we did. Just wish I could spend more time there. Retiring in August, so getting a little more time for the pond should be doable.
Post some pics of your place and project. Looking forward to watching it happen.
Jeff
