Well, they're baaaack! Phase II of Brettski's pond construction has kicked into gear. I spent 3 hours in chilly pouring rain on Saturday with my contractor, walking the perimeter and discussing all the elevations that the boss and I shot, the areas marked for clearing, and the planned improvements. Besides the actual pond and dam, the building site is of next importance. That is where this thread is heading.
The entire project is surrounded by fairly thick timber. We are cutting out a hole in the woods, about 1/2 acre, directly adjacent to the east end of the pond (yellow area, right side). This will be the building site. It is a decent slope in this area, dropping about 16' over the 180' overall depth of this site. The plan is to push dirt out of the pond basin that afronts this zone and build up a huge knoll within this new clearing. I calculate about 5000 cu yds total. A man-made bumpout peninsula will project out into the natural basin. It will project about 50 feet out past the natural shoreline and be part and parcel of the entire filled-in building site. It will be part of the entire 1/2 acre zone.
The future plan is to have house, garage, out-buildings built nearer the rear of this zone (to the east end/right) in order to allow the foundations to reach thru thinner fill dirt and reach undisturbed soil for support integrity. This will leave a beautiful, wide expanse of lawn area to look across to the pond and the dam some 700+ feet away. This lawn area will be the septic zone.
I have had conversations with the county health dept and they are OK with a septic in fill dirt, so long as it perc's OK. They said the guidelines are 25' min from any water body and usually include a perimeter drain for my kind of project. I also spoke with a popular septic guy from the area and he said that the perimeter drain is likely going to be required and a good idea. Because of the lousy perc in my area (due to clay), the fields are pretty big for a 1200 gal tank. He told me to allow about 70' x 120' for the entire system. My plan will do this and still keep it more than 25' from the pond...maybe 40 feet p/m?
What's the Pond Boss forum consensus on this septic plan. Does anybody else have systems close to their ponds? Am I settin' myself up for disaster?...or...any outside the box thinkin'? (for the record, I have nix'd the idea of a mechanical system since this will be a second home for many years. From what I have read, mechanical systems need to be used and watched regularly...or am I off base?)
