That's the reason I'm starting out here on the forums, to hear personal experiences from people such as yourself! Thank you for that. Honestly, I knew there would be some research to do before building a pond, but I'm a bit more excited to know that I didn't realize the half of it until finding these forums. The complexity actually intrigues me even more. The challenge will make the results even more rewarding!
I've been working to justify my decision to want to build a pond, so far, by making a simple topo map using Google Earth elevation data, using water runoff calculators based on the type of soil out there, and just in general, visualizing where the pond sits in relation to the proposed house to be built (so we can actually sit and enjoy it), and then now, becoming involved in these forums. I'm extremely happy that I found these forums to give me months more worth of great investigative resources to use. I NEVER jump into a project. I guess I'm known throughout my family to heavily research and become an expert in most every project that I take on. With that being said, I'm no expert yet on pond building.
I will absolutely run my own tests of the soil before proceeding with any work that is going to dip into the pocketbook. The pond will likely only be 5-6 deep at it's deepest, but I guess in all reality, that will depend on whether suitable clay lies beneath me. I have no objections to making the pond much deeper (10ft of so) if the soil type and watershed will allow it. As I dig into the forums and see other's projects, the dream I thought I had, seems to be changing. I kinda want the best of all worlds when it comes to how I will use the pond. I want to fish, relax around it, swim in it, and anything else that people do with small ponds. Haha. Talk to me after the experts give me a dose of reality, and I might say I just want some water that I can use to water the lawn when we don't get rain for 1-2 months at a time.
