hi tim--i just finished building a pond in middle georgia--our nrcs people wouldn't even look at it--said only ponds they were doing now were ones involving farm irrigation. i second the suggestion that you locate a couple of good contractors who have built ponds in the area and let them give you their opinions on your sites and advice on dam location, etc--stay as far away from govt. agencies as you possibly can (legally). i paid a retired nrcs guy to come out and tell me i couldn't build it where i wanted it due to sandy soil (he dug down about 3 ft. then try to sell me some land he was selling for some timber companies that had "wonderful" pond sites on them---my pond did cost me more due to it not having an ideal situation (dam between two hills) but the contractor i had dig mine had experience in this area and he dug some test holes with a back hoe to verify the soil we'd be working with was good enough clay materil--my dam is very long and to core it we had to go down about 5 to 6 ft in places but the clay we used to core the dam and the clay that underlies the pond my contractor said was exactly the type he hauled in when people didn't have good enough clay to build their ponds. so get some more ideas from experienced contractors in your area. will follow this thread for awhile as i will soon face some of the same challlenges you are facing regarding a long driveway and running power (both)about 400 yards or so into the property. i am very interested to learn how power/driveway turn out for you. good luck--you found a good place when you located this site--good folks here.
