I'm with Dave, and I'll betcha most posters would follow suit. Time to thank the NRCS for their assistance, keep the bridge intact, and poke around for a good, independent pond builder (if possible, talk to pondmeisters in the hood and ask 'em). Also, before you put the NRCS on ice, ask them for a list of the approved contractors that they have worked with in the past. It wouldn't hurt to intimate the ol' "go off the record" and tell me who the real deal is in the pond building arena. Further still, and this is gonna be good info as you proceed, have them explain why you need an ACoE permit. Get the details. Is it going to be a requirement no matter what/where the potential pond is...or...is it a matter of hydrolic soil conditions on your parcel that qualify as wetland...or...sumthin else.
Finally, the pond size. See the independent pond builder search above. A good guy will help you to start thinkin'. Then, we will have to do some math with avg precip and evap and it will help to have to get some kinda quantitative analysis on the spring output.
