Thanks for the info. Sorry it took me a bit to reply but everything you've said seems to apply to my situation. The only thing I can say that might be a little different is the fluctuation in the water table. One thing I've noticed in the 4 years we've been there is the swamp on the opposite side of my yard never seems to vary much more than 2 or 3 ft. It actually only seems to be a few feet deep and I have never seen it dry completely up. Is it possible for the water table to only fluctuate that amount in both dry and wet seasons?
Yes, if the swamp is the low spot in the surrounding area. Any water that is in the ground runs to it.
If so I can only assume my pond will hold water in the same manner? If so I don't think that small amount of fluctuation would bother me much. If it were like your situation with several feet of variance in water levels I would probably prefer it to be lined as well.
Maybe. If you dig the pond, you have to remove soil. Now your pond area will be just water, not water and soil. So, your pond might not fill up all the way, depending if there is enough water to make up for the amount (volume) of soil that is removed.
Another question I have is if I were to clay line the pond how would all of the water in my yard drain to it? Wouldn't the clay lining not only seal the water in the pond but also seal the water outside the pond? If my back yard sits right at the water table wouldn't that defeat my purpose of giving it all a place to go? How would I keep it full of water? Also if I were to just dig a groundwater pond what type of soil do I need? I assume it could be anything but preferably a porous material to allow the ground water to flow into it? If I have a lot of sand in my soil how do I prevent it from simply filling in on sitself? Also if you look at the picture in the initial post you can see trees surrounding 3/4 of the sides where the pond will go. Do you think that would be a major issue? I plan on cutting down several of the ones close to where the banks will be.
Surface run-off.
Yes
No, make the top level of the pond lower than your yard and the water in the yard will run into the pond.
If the pond is sealed well, then you'd have to make up for evaporation losses if there is no surface water running into the pond.
Whatever soil was on the property.
Make the slopes in the pond no steeper than 3:1. 4:1 is even better. Get the soil covered asap after digging with rye grass, whatever groundcover you want to be permanent and erosion mats.
The more organic matter that falls/blows into the pond, the more muck accumulates and the faster the pond "fills in".
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