What does the dozer operator say?
I have not spoken to him yet.
Have you talked with other pond builders?
Yes, before I hired him, the other three all told me the same thing as far as how, just different in price. This fellow worked for the corp. of engineers for 20+ years as a dozer operator and now is semi-retired.
How about your local Conservation experts (federal and state?).
I spoke to the extension office (which I think is a part of the DNR) and they said it would be fine. When the pond guy was making it, he completly removed the old dam, then placed about 3 inches at a pass ... back and forth all day until it was build up.
What was used for the dam? Was it good clay? Did he layer and pack it as he built? Or did he just use silt (complete with weeds, brush, trees) that had washed in and grown over the years.
He moved the old dam out, and then used the clay from further back. Here where we are, the whole ground is clay... the red clay type, not the grey.
Did he dig a 'core' so the new dam was 'keyed' into the old dam?
I dont think so, he just built a long clay wall basically from scratch.
Did the overflow overtop the dam?
No, the water isnt deep enough to make it to the drain or the top of the dam. From what I can tell, like the one picture, it looks like water seeped into the damn towards teh bottom, washed out a small area, and the rest just caved in and then washed out too.
Assuming he used good clay, I'd guess he did not do a good job of packing it as he built the dam.
This is what I thought too... just a freak thing happened or it was not pack enough. In retrospect, I noticed the middle of the dam, where his tire tracks were not (in between his tracks)... was about 6 inches lower because it settled.
