I am new here and appreciate all the great information--thanks everyone. We are planning to build a 1/2 acre pond on our property in the mountains of north eastern West Virginia and I have a few questions to get us started. Background info: Our land is not flat and the pond will be located in a sloping downward hollow--we will be utilizing the valley walls to some extent to act as side walls of pond and building a dam on the low end (30' to 36' foot base, 15'18' high, and 15' wide at top of dam). A seasonal stream running down the valley will feed our pond. To reduce debris entering the pond we plan on building a catch basin above which will enter the pond as a small (4ft) waterfall.
Questions:
1. Do the experts think we should do more than just lay gravel on the bottom of the inlet stream, and rip rap to collect debris as the water flows through catch basis entry to pond?
2. How important is it to lay pipe on the bottom to drain the pond? Beyond this, what are the advantages of using the Agri-Drain systems? Would anyone recommend not using any of this and just letting the culvert pipe (on one side of dam) and rip rap with concrete spillway (on the other side) to control naturally the water levels?
Our seasonal stream runs pretty strong in the spring (right now it is running a ton of water); but it also dries up to a little trickle during August.
Any advice anyone might have for me is greatly appreciated as we are brand new to this whole world of knowledge--and plan on spending hours reading others posts and learning as much as we can before we start--one thing we have learned here is that it is better to plan for all problems before you start construction--and that is what we are now trying to do. Thanks!
-Newbie from WV
