Hi ETW, and welcome.

If your future pond site is low and you get a substantial amount of standing water, you will need a levee. It won't need to be high at all...just a foot above the highest level of the standing water should do it. Otherwise your fish will escape, and you could possible get trash fish (depending on the your proximity to any bayou or drainage ditch)

If the standing water is local... doesn't adjoin drainage ditches or bayous... no levee is needed. However, you will need some shallow edges for runoff to enter so it won't erode the banks and silt up your pond.

Of course a levee will block all the the nice runoff water, so you will need a section of your levee to have a "reverse spillway" to allow the runoff water to flow into the pond. Then, of course the levee will need some sort of fish fence or rip rap section to keep the ungrateful critters from bailing out.

Runoff from heavily wooded areas usually cause tea-colored water, and it can be slightly acidic. Ag lime will help this, but if the water is still too acidic you may need to add some powdered lime occasionally.

Good luck, and please keep us updated on your project.

Shrimp