Thanks for the welcome. I have been enjoying reading everyones pond stories and I'm glad some folks here find mine interesting. If I ever get around to getting a few fish things will get really exciting.
When I said I had been reading information here on springs and the water table I was referring to what comes up in many of the pond stories here. The links below are a good example of some of the information I've found.
Groundwater; signpost to disaster?
http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=3871#Post3871Spring??? Yes or no.
http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=3547#Post3547Water table ( very informative )
http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=3524#Post3524Spring Fed
http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=3475#Post3475Springs? Asset or Liability
http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=3119#Post3119My main reason for wanting a pond is so I have enough water for my large vegetable garden.
I would also enjoy a pond for it's ornamental value, and the idea of being able to have a dip and a float in even a small pond when it is hot and I've been in the garden is very appealing. For both of these other uses I would appreciate deeper water. Once I figure out what sort of pond I have, I will probably want to get a few fish. Something edible would be nice, but I suspect in such a small pond that might not be too realistic.
When I only had the little watering hole everything in the garden was on extreme water rationing. Although I would love it if this new larger version of the old watering hole maintained the same water level as the old hole, the extra water provided by the springs is really valuable even if it only rises to 3 1/2 feet before it finds a back door route to run downhill.
I am kind of confused because over the last 20 years my old little watering hole allowed me to keep an eye on what the water table was doing and now I don't have that I'm not sure what is going on. It seems water is draining out of the pond from somewhere. I gain water after a rainfall and slowly loose about an inch a day. With the amount of rain we have had the little watering hole would be close to full. If the new pond had this much water in it, the outlet pipe in the dam would be overflowing. The water is still 2 feet down from that. I see lots of water seeping in off the back clay edge of the pond and where it is coming in is a bit higher than the clay dam and outlet pipe, but the water level doesn't seem to come up and is instead going down.
This is surprising because there is so much water here that in the winter everything runs and oozes and though it is just beginning to get really soggy, I would have expected more water in this pond by now.
If the water has an alternative downhill route through a spring by going 3 feet up a hole the size of a drinking straw, I would think it would be pretty easy to plug it by pounding in a slightly larger dry cedar stake and packing the small pool it comes into with clay. But I'm not sure I want to do that as that spring water may be my best bet for a continuous source or irrigation water. On the other hand the little watering hole did seem to have a higher water table and if this was coming from water running downhill through the topsoil over top of the clay and not the deeper springs we uncovered, and if the springs suck water after 3 and 1/2 feet, I might get more water by plugging the springs.
I guess it's too soon to conclude the springs are acting as a siphon and I will just have to watch it over the next year to see what it does. But it sure does get me wondering what is going on down there.
For gardeners water is both magical and powerful !
