Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Property Projects & Construction Continually pumping water to pond to keep full

So I am nearing the end of my pond construction dream. I have been digging it myself for the past few years. It is roughly 800 ft long, 70 ft at the narrowest and 150 ft at the widest in a boomerang shape

It is almost 2 acres on low laying land no dam needed.

It is almost entirely a sand bottom, I dont have $50,000 to seal it with bentonite or similar.

Normal times it will hold 2 ft of water from the high water table, I want it 8 ft deep with a couple deeper holes.

I am however within 200 yards of a large stream that I can pump out of. A submersible pump will pump 75,000 gallons daily for a monthly cost of around $60.

It usually is bank full in the spring. if I start pumping when it is filled, shouldnt that much water flow keep it full?

Thanks

I'm no pro but I'm sure they will tell you it depends on how much you lose per day. Has it ever been full or close to? I'm not sure what you mean by bank full? I think you will need to get it full and see what you lose per day so you know how much you will need to pump per day. It might be best to try and fill it with one or more gas powered semi-trash pumps to see what it does.
Have you considered Soilfloc?

bank full, means just that, full to the top.

Once it does it in the spring I will start measuring daily loss.

Soilfloc is for rich people, which I am not.

Yeah you will need to know how much you are losing on an average day. 1" of water on a 2 acre pond is 54,300 gallons. If you are losing 2-3" a day you wont be able to keep up.

Have you figured up the cost of installation of everything needed to pump from the stream?

About $500 for pump, tile electrical..

Wow! That is a lot cheaper than I thought it would be.

yeah, and I computer the amps to watts to my electric bill to figure out monthly cost if it ran 24/7.

I figured for $60 a month it would be a small price to pay for a nice full pond if it can keep up. The stream is nice clear clean water as well.

I could have kept mine full by pumping about 10 hours a week from my stream, with a 2" gas pump, but after doing it for a couple of years off and on, it's not worth it to me any more. It leaks down about 30 inches at an average rate of about 1/2 inch a day, then stops at about 30 inches below full. Have not found the leak, and it's been almost six years. Tried Soilfloc, but didn't use enough. Cost is too much and returns too small for me to go all out on fixing it. Otters from the nearby White River eat most of my fish every winter anyway.

You will also have to filter the water from the stream if you don't want all the critters (including the fish) from the stream to be in the pond. Yes, things will survive going thru the pump.

There is no way to give you a finite answer until you can calculate the rate of daily water loss from the pond at full pool. At approximately 3 to 4 feet from full pool in my sandy bottom pond, I would lose 18 gallons per minute in seepage - I could pump 25 gpm and did that. I measured how much the water rose in 7 full days of pumping then ran the numbers. I expect the leakage to get worse the closer the pond got to full pool.

Once you get the pond full, and can calculate the amount that is leaking, you might be able to run those numbers past TJ here on the forum, he has a polymer product (powder) that reduces leaks and can seal ponds. That might be an option in addition to pumping.

Take it from me, esshup it correct when he says to filter the water before it enters the pond or else’s you ARE GOING TO GET UNWANTED FISH entering your pond. I pumped from the creek, unfiltered, into my pond and now I have a pond full of unwanted GSF, and I am going thru hell trying to get rid of them, so whatever you do, LISTEN to the advice here

xroads,

It is not possible to answer your water pumping question based on the available information.

The key factor is the permeability (ability to transmit fluids) of your sand bottom.

If you have very clean, coarse sand, and a very large "unbounded" water table aquifer, then you probably have very high permeability. In that case, it is possible that ten 2" trash pumps might not be capable of keeping your pond "bank full" during the periods when the water table subsides.

OTOH, if your sand contains some mixed in clay, or some clay layers in the depositional horizon, then you might have moderately low permeability. In that case, your pump might be able to keep up with your water leakage rate, and you can have a full pond at a reasonable cost.

I will say, that regardless of your actual permeability, the fluid flow rate is a linear function of the pressure difference. When you have to pump X gallons/day to keep your pond level 2' above the level of the water table, you will then have to pump 2X gallons/day to keep it 4' above the level of the water table.

My suggestion would be to test your required pumping rates BEFORE you finish the final shoreline of your pond. If it turns out to be too expensive to keep your pond full at the end of a six-month drought, then design the pond to be able to keep your fish alive during the "bad" times. Also design the pond to be a beautiful bank full pond, if you can cheaply keep it full when the water table is only down 1 foot. (That period at the start of the summer might be one of the busiest times of the year for you and family or friends at the pond.)

Good luck on your big project!