First I had bad luck, but then I had good luck. When I began planning my pond, I contacted the COE, but the position covering my county was vacant. So I called the guy for a neighboring county who with almost no information told me I "definitely need a permit". When I asked what the criteria was that determines when you need one and when you don't, he said he'd email me the regs. The regs were for a nationwide permit that addressed the construction of stormwater management facilities on commercial development sites. I did a word search of the document and words like "pond", "dam", "embankment", etc. were never used.
A month or so later the position covering my county was filled and I called that guy. After about one minute of quick questions, I was told there was a regional permit in place that allowed for private land owners to build small ponds. No special permit necessary. Doesn't matter if the purpose is recreational or agricultural. Under the regional permit I'm limited to 300' of streambed and 1/10th acre of wetlands. He made no site visit but asked if I'd send him an email when the project was completed so he'd have the option of making an inspection.
So anyway, it seems there can be a big difference in how regs are implemented from one county to the next and I'm lucky I don't live down the road a couple miles or I'd be dealing with the first guy.
