Working on a pond, slow process but getting closer. Initially thought we would have a thick enough seam of clay to line the pond with, but after digging found that there was not really very much clay (2-3' thick clay ~10-12' down but not present in many areas).
Strongly leaning towards a pond liner at this point. I do have a source about 10 miles away with free clay, but with the cost of hauling and working the clay I am worried I would spend half the price of the liner on the clay and then have it leak and end up buying a liner after all. The bulk of the dirt is straight sand.
Borrowing a D8 Dozer and pretty good sized excavator from family. Hired operators (they usually work for the family I am borrowing the equipment from) to run the equipment, they did most of the digging but don't really have pond construction experience. Before completion they quit the project and it sat undone for quite awhile. I decided to learn how to run the heavy equipment and am working on finishing the dirt work myself.
I need to take measurements again, but last I checked it is 13.5' deep on the north side (wider side) and 11' deep on the south side. ~100 yards long and 50-70 yards wide.
I am planning on putting an 8" dual wall corrugated culvert in for overflow on the north dam that will drain to a ditch alongside the road (the natural drainage for the property. I will also make a 20ft spillway on the west side of the north dam that will be 6" below the dam. The overflow pipe and am planning to be 1' below the dam. Run off is probably 4:1, but with the very sandy soil the runoff is minimal unless very heavy rain. I doubt it will fill on its on, I am planning on putting in a sand point driven well to the water table which about 10-15ft deep. The pond consultant we talked to said we did not need any spillway or overflow pipe. But, I am putting them in anyways, even though I doubt it will ever overflow I do not want to take any chances on it. The pond liner with go 1' of elevation over the full pond level. Most of the pond is about 3:1, with a beach around 30' or so that is probably 5:1 and slowly transitions back to 3:1.
I am battling the water table while digging the two ends of the pond. I have finally been able to dry out the north end enough to work on the pond bottom by pumping the water table down frequently. I have bought a second trash pump to dewater the south side as well but haven't done that yet. Some parts of the banks were over excavated and 2:1 slope and I have been working to add soil back to those to get them to 3:1.
Will also plan on adding a floating dock, aeration, boat ramp, stock with LMB and BG. Haven't figured out all the fish habitat and aquatic plants we will need, but planning on some large rock mounds, and other habitats.
Picture attached from when the project was on hold
We did use a borrow pit that was better material that we found digging some test holes. It was mostly clay /silt loam and still not anywhere near pure clay. It packed really tight but that was in large part because of the big rock truck that was used. Between the truck and load estimated 100,000 lbs of weight every trip. Lifts were 6-12" at a time. We estimated 1000 yards of material were packed in.
