I’m in Springboro area and have chased water for a year since build, first fill up, then changes above me (neighbor built house and cut water flow to me).
I feel your water pain and have gone from trying well water (not enough gpm) to ditch water solution.
I, too, have a field ditch I’ve tapped for help. At first I was transfer pumping from a collection tub. Wow, what a pain. I lived with that pump like we were married and tracked every inch, charted it, and measured on a stick just like you have ! My family was pretty sick of me celebrating each inch milestone.
I did some research over the winter and this spring I built a check dam in the ditch with pipe to the pond. The pipe takes the collected pool of water behind the dam and sends to pond. I was worried about the elevation, but am getting about 7-9” of vertical drop over a 90’ length. It works perfectly. I have a screen on the dam side of the pipe and a cap for high water or ‘pond full’ conditions. I’m about 10 months in to this solution and have learned a lot. I’ve adjusted the check dam design a few times and am really happy with it now. (Had a 4” in 2 hour water event in June so I’ve seen the high water mark…or probably a 20 year flood condition anyway)
I’ve learned about the ditch too. By pooling the water and eventually capturing almost 100% of it, you get extended water capture after any rain….except…when crops are in the field area and high weeds are in the lead-in ditches. Yes, to answer your question, the surface runoff is dramatically affected by vegetation cycles (not an expert, I just feel the effect).
Sorry so long. Your problem really resonated with me.
I too had a small leak to solve before the water source problem.
I am beyond proud of the beautiful ecosystem I’ve created and joy we get from it. I know your project didn’t hit this wedding timeline, but you are well on your way to many other memories made!
Good luck !