Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Creating the food chain New .75 acre pond in Virginia, need help!

2 things I see about the overflow/drain pipe on the back side of the dam.
1) I believe it's too small (diameter for the drain pipe). If you get a lot of rain, the 18" pipe won't be able to get rid of the water fast enough, and without an properly constructed emergency spillway, the dam could wash out if water flows over it for a length of time.

2) There isn't enough protection around the 18" pipe to keep water from starting to eat away at the backside of the dam. I'd see if you could run the end of the pipe further away from the dam, and place a lot of large sized rocks for the water to fall on to help prevent the outflow from digging a large hole.

Has the contractor dug other ponds that hold water? Have you or your parents looked at them? I'm saying this because there are a LOT of people that can move dirt very well, but don't know squat about properly constructing a pond.

How much watershed flows into the pond? If the pond builder doesn't know, then there's no way that he can properly figure out the size of the drain pipe. The pond has to be constructed so it will withstand a "100 year rain event" without the dam failing.

If it fails, and there are houses downhill, then there's the possibility of your parents being liable for some if not all of the damage.........

I think you might be better with the SMB than the LMB. You don't need BG unless stocking LMB, they will overpopulate with SMB.