I have been working for a guy that has a very large piece of hunting land in Otter Tail Co. Minnesota and he wants to build a 10 acre pond...

I have no experience at all in this kind of thing and I have been searching and searching the internet and after looking at hundreds of sites I came across this one and this one seems to be the best forum to get help..

Please give me some advice as what to do and where to start?

Thanks in advance...

I guess I should advise that I have contacted the Minnesota DNR and NO wetlands will be affected by this project..

I guess my question is after getting all the permits and Ok's from local and state agencies what would my next move be..

Does anyone know of pond builders in the Mn area to get bids from on constructing a 10 acre Pond?

Welcome to PB. I suggest you contact the PB office and get a copy of Perfect Pond which is a guide to the entire process from idea to completion. Here is a ideas link which should help with the beginning concepts.

From the archives - http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=92439#Post92439. From there you can look into specifics on other threads.

Thanks,I will be contacting PB for the books..

The pond will be 25-30ft deep at it's deepest point,what kind of numbers are we approx. looking at to construct a 10 acre pond?

That would depend a great deal on local topography - i.e. will you be constructing a small dam between two hills, constructing a very long dam around an area of little slope, or excavating a 10 acre hole? Very different amounts of dirt have to be moved for those different approaches. Also of great importance are local soil types - if you have lots of good clay at the pond site itself, costs are low, good clay elsewhere on the property that has to be moved to the pond, costs more, no clay on the property costs even higher.

Local excavation rates also vary throughout the country. But if you can nail down the basic pond type, and have an idea of the local soils, you might be able to get a range of costs from owners of recent ponds of comparable size here.

I believe he wants to excavate a 10 acre hole,I believe the site is made up of mostly sand base material.

We have made contact with a company that will do soil bearing test across the lenght of the proposed pond site,they will dig approx 9 holes at differnt depths with the deepest hole at approx 40ft..Cost would be 7-8k..

BEI a 10 acre excavated hole 10 ft deep is over 161k yards of dirt. You are talking about a $200k plus water hole in Texas dollars. You had better hire someone that knows what they are doing.

Or find someone who wants to pay you to mine aggregate from the property. IIRC that's how Dwight Bremer got his pond.

With all the natural bodies of water in Otter Tail, I'm surprised there isn't ALREADY a nice little mini-lake on the property. That being said, the Otter Tail county area is definitely mainly sand, and usually it's deep. Water table is quite high though.

(I used to live in the area as a kid/teen. Lived on Pelican Lake in the summer and played Legion Baseball for the Pelican Rapids Orange Sox)

If the water table is high, keeping the hole pumped out will take some $$ during the pond construction as well.

Keep em coming guys this stuff is excellent info to give land owner...I do have a meeting set up next week with a company in MN to go over plan and talk about associated cost of project..

Please if there are more comments they are all welcomed...Thank you in advance..

BEI if this is going to be a pond dug into the water table relying on the water table as the source of water for the pond then there is no need to spend 7 or 8k determining the soil will hold water or not. You have not been clear on what type of pond this going to be. There is a big difference in how and what to construct it with. Mike Otto is our resident expert on pond construction although I don't think he does to many water table ponds.

Another thing about water table ponds. The sides don't need to be built up like ponds that will be trapping surface run-off. If they are, all that will do is make it a longer walk down to the water. That might also figure in the slope ratio of the bank. (WT pond vs. dammed pond) If it is a WT pond, the landowner will have to down the slope to the pond depending on how low the WT is during the year. If it is a WT pond, how much does the WT vary from spring to fall? That's how much the pond level will vary, and it might be difficult to establish vegetation on the banks.

Welcome to the forum, You are going to love this place.
Let us know what the company that you are meeting with has to say.

Lots of questions But here is one. How much does the water table go up and down in a dry season? What are your plans for all the dirt you will dig out?

Otto,
That is one of the many questions that the potential designers of this pond asked at the meeting.What are our plans with the dirt being excavated...

They are going to formulate a couple differnt proposals to us in the next few weeks...

Keep us posted

i sent bei a private mesage did you recieve it?

Very interested in seeing any updates on this so...bump.