Hi,

I'm new here and appreciate the advice. I'm building a house in Northern Wisconsin and am looking to dig a pond. In my area the water table is very high -- about 1-3 feet below the surface -- and there are ponds everywhere. If you dig a hole it fills with water within minutes, so that's the type of pond it would be -- a ground water table pond.

My primary goal is to make a pond that would work well for swimming with kids. Fish would be nice but at this point my primary focus is a nice spot for swimming.

I'm trying to read all I can to determine the right way to design the pond so it works well, and am unclear on some things so I thought I would ask here.

My primary goal of course is safety, being a swimming pond.

I'm looking at making it 1/3 to 1/2 acre on the surface, and was thinking of going to maximum depth of about 10 feet.

Question -- I've read that the sides should slope 3:1 or 4:1 for safety. But I'm unclear on if that means the sides should slope 3:1 all the way from the surface to the maximum depth (so for a 10' deep pond each bank would take 30' to get to the maximum depth), or can you do 3:1 until say 5' down and then 2:1 until the maximum depth (which would make it 25' from each shore until maximum depth)?

Ideally the water would be fairly clear. But I realize this isn't going to be a swimming pool -- I expect plants growing along the edge. Some information I've read made it seem like if I cut plants in the fall and discard them (outside the pond) that may help reduce nutrient buildup in the pond by getting rid of organic material? Has anyone tried this?

Even if my primary goal isn't fishing, it sounds like having fish in the pond is beneficial to eat mosquito larvae and other bugs that are annoyances while swimming. I've read a few places that bass may be the best choice as they don't nibble like bluegills and are also skittish of people.

Is 10' maximum depth a good depth for a swimming pond that may also be used for some fish? It seems like I probably wouldn't want any less than 10' for Northern Wisconsin winters.

Does anyone have any thoughts about my plan as outlined here or any other thoughts about how to make a great pond for swimming? Thanks!