Just a little background on my pond - It's different from most in that there's a stream, maybe 20' wide, that has a small dam across it. Just on the upstream side of the damn is a horizontal inlet pipe (4' diameter) that feeds my pond; downstream about a hundred feet is another horizontal pipe which is the outlet. The stream runs parallel to the long side of my pond for about 1,000 feet. The stream and pond are seperated by an abandoned railroad bed sans the actual tracks.
Last year, I rebuilt the damn with sandbags and lined both the upstream and downstream sides with 2' by 3' concrete patio slabs. We secured them in place with 6' re-bar staked into the ground. The re-bar was tightened down with cable wire. This gave me about an extra 18" of water in my pond.
My caretake has just informed me that someone has been stealing the 2' x 3' slabs from the damn.
These slabs are about $5 or $6 bucks a piece.
A lot of theft in the area of my property is due to heroin junkies which is a big problem. But I can't imagine a smack junkie (or several of them) ripping off these concrete slabs.
Here are several factors to consider:
1) The slabs weigh about 80lbs each.
2) The stream where the dam is lays about 15 vertical feet below the railroad berm, and it's a steep climb up or down.
3) You really need a truck to haul these slabs due to their weight (FYI, cars can drive on the railroad bed).
4) To get these slabs off the dam, you would almost surely have to stand in about 3' deep water which would be around 35 degrees in temperature. You would have to stand in the water for several minutes per slab that you were stealing.
5) So far, (15) slabs have been taken from my dam.
Besides making a concrete slab patio, can anyone think of other uses or why someone would be stealing these things?
Also, I'm beginning to formulate a plan to catch these thiefs, and am surely considering the trail camera usage.
Any replies are greatly appreciated.
