I was researching how to seal ponds when I cam across this forum. Spent a couple of hours reading the thread about sealing leaky ponds and decided this should be a good place to keep on top of.
I've got 80 acres of hilly high desert and want to eventually put in three ponds...or more. Each one would be between 1.25 and 2 acres to stay within the 20 acre foot limit.
Two of the ponds would be on leveled off portions of the big hill on one side of my property. Just gonna level off two places of about 3 acres each and dig two big holes in the level area of about 1 acre and maybe 25 feet deep at the deepest spot... gently sloping sides. These will be water storage for irrigation, stock watering, and fire suppression. A 6" or larger pipe would be buried in the bottom and run out the side with a valve so I can hook more piping to it for all of the above.
However, I want a pond to play in too! So, that one will be dug in a leveled off area near the home site. It will be at least 2 acres and very irregularly shaped. This is the one I'm having trouble planning. I want lots of gently sloping bank but I also want to stock it with bass, bluegill, and catfish so, I don't know just how deep it will have to be! Our summers are blazing hot and our winters will freeze the water to a depth of 1 foot or more at times.
Anyway, I hope to find all the answers to my questions in here...eventually.
Al Hefner
