Here's an update. I met yesterday with the NRCS lady and the "soils" specialist from her office who was there to locate the best "borrow" clay site. This meeting was not as encouraging as the first one:
- They downgraded their pond size estimate from six acres to a little over one acre
. They said that was all the water I would have with a watershed of 12 acres and the flow from a year round spring. That was disappointing because the hillsides of the draw will support more depth and the width at the dam site at a 15-foot height is only about 80 feet across.
- They said they couldn't do anything else for me until I applied for and got a Corps permit (they said they'd send me the forms)
- They would do a design if I pressed them, but suggested I just let a contractor do it
At this point I'm going to try to talk to some local pond builders and see what they say. Does everyone have to apply for a Corps permit before getting design help from NRCS?
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one more cast - Thanks for the suggestion. I assumed that the only electric option I had was the provider who had poles on my road, which I was told was the local co-op. Did your co-op come in from another road than AEP?
