After jealously reading posts on this site and reading Pond Boss for a couple of years, I finally took the leap and am building a pond. I'm going to need help as I progress.
A little background and history -
My pond site is a natural ravine in southeast Texas (near Woodville). There are lots of small springs on the property, and a small branch - about 40 gallons per minute - flows through the ravine. The pond will be 4.5 or 5 acres and the dam is about 300 feet long and about 25 feet from branch bottom to the top of the dam. (pictures below)
I got lots of recommendations for a local contractor named Ernest. He's about 77 and has been building ponds for over 40 years in this area. He still can put in an 8 hour day on a D6 in 95 degree heat, so maybe there is some hope for me yet!
The pond bottom is blue clay in some areas, red clay in other areas, and sandy loam in others - mostly the shallower areas. Ernest says there is solid blue clay under all of it.
He cored the dam and put in an 8 inch drain pipe with seep collars to carry the branch during construction. He recommended just a plate on the drain pipe, but agreed to put on an 8 inch steel butterfly valve, which we shut last weekend when the dam was finished. We then seeded with topbrown millet and covered it with hay.
My first (of many!) question relates to an underwater cliff created during the construction process. Ernest found two banks of solid red clay which he said was the best for the dam, and had to dig into them heavily, creating an 8 foot cliff which will be underwater when the pond fills. He says the cliff will be fine when it is totally underwater, with just a gradual rounding off of the edges.
Does anyone have any comments on whether I need to do something with the cliff, or is it ok as is? Any comments on anything else?
The first picture is the pond and the dam one week after closing the drain. The second is my wife in front of the cliff. The third is Ernest digging the clay 2 weeks ago.
