For anyone for whom this might be helpful, here's a quick update to my 1.2-acre "upground" or "above ground" shallow pond built over bedrock in Delaware County, OH.....When I started pumping water from my new well into the pond on June 15, 2025, the pond was 3'1". With some heavy snow yesterday, December 2, 2025, the pond finally maxed out and flowed into the overflow pipe at 6'5" (deepest areas). My well pumps about 12gpm and I've been running it 24/7 since June 15th. That's 170 days. So I've added about 2.9 million gallons from my well. It has rained about 18" in that same period (650,000 gallons in a 1.2-acre pond). I'm not sure how to accurately calculate the capacity of the pond, given slopes and varying depths, but I'll just take a guess at 5' being the average depth. If that's true, then the capacity should be about 2 million gallons. There were some days/weeks long stretches during 90-degree weather and a drought in August when I was hardly gaining any depth. I flipped off the switch to the well pump last night and now I'll monitor the level over the winter/spring so I can better manage it in future winters/springs. If I see I'm losing a lot of depth, I'll know I have a leakage problem. A reminder - most of the bottom has 18" of virgin clay compacted over the bedrock with the deeper parts skimmed down to 6" of clay, and no sheepsfoot roller was used. I previously said there was a core-trench on 3 sides. I don't think that's correct. I think only the main long dam was core-trenched. I have a fishery a mile away, and the owner said he'll help me stock it in the spring.
