I’ve never considered that it could be the water table. In our area, these are often referred to as “sky ponds”. We have three on our farm (this one really has the most drainage to it) and there’s a lot more in the area. The other two ponds are also dry, but held water until the cattle were taken off the farm a few years ago. Hopefully the cattle will be back next spring so we will see if that has any effect on the others.
Is there a way to determine if it’s related to the water table? We have a shallow well on our pond (slightly lower elevation than this) that’s probably 8 to 10 feet deep. I’ve never seen water in it, but I’ve never looked after a heavy rain. We’re also about 2 miles off the Ohio river, only 3/4 of a mile from where it starts dropping down into the valley of the Ohio river.
As for the “dam” that was washed out, that is what it appeared, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t dug out either, I don’t really have anyway to know.
I included a google earth shot of our property. The red is the pond in question, blue; the other two ponds, the green is the shallow well, and the purple is to represent the drainage from the land.
