I am looking at a tract of land, to buy, with a 9 to 10 acre lake on it that has been drained for about seven years now. The city basicly dug up the stand-pipe in it to drain the lake! The lake is fed by a larg creek going through it. The land has been for sale for a while now and I am thinking about buying it! Is there anything I need to be careful about being that it has been drained for so long? I plan on patching the hole they dug in the dam and letting the lake fill back up. Could I run into unfor-seeable problems here??

My first question would be why did the city drain it and can you rebuild? Are there houses downstream which would be in danger of flooding if the dam was breached? The biggest problem might be the "big creek". Questions there, what is the water flow, what is the source, will the creek put trash fish in the pond ect. To much water can be as bad as to little.

Call your local extension agent and get the name of the local soil and conservation agent. They will come out and inspect the site and give recommendations. If the site is suitable they will design a dam at no charge. I don't know if they will design renovation work.

As a land developer and a home builder, I may suggest that you make sure that the deed on the land is clear and free. It makes me wonder, that if the city got to it somehow that it may be tied up in something else. If not city property, they may be in for a hell of a law suit for draining the land of a past lake/ pond if not owned by the city. If I were you, I would check with the local county engineers office. I'd ask for a plot map of the property and see the whole story.

Lake was dranied because the police department wanted to investigate a murder and thought the weapon was thrown in the lake. But as it turned out this was not the case. The owner did not want to fill the lake back up because he was afraid that the kids in the area would fall in and get hurt! He is not doing anything with this so he has had it on the market for several years now!! I am going to put a contract on it at the first of the year(2003).

Buy the land.
In your contract, make a contingency for inspections.
Then, have a qualified earthmover inspect the site, to see what it would take to repair the lake.
Be sure to know all of the lake, not just the hole in the dam.
Look for shallow water areas, consider renovating some of the periphery to improve habitat.

Good Luck bigpond; it sounds nice! I was looking at a piece of land in Tennessee a few years ago that had an old dry pond in it that was actually on the county map (why that fires me up I have no idea). As it turns out the pond had been built by an excentric millionare with a nice pipe spillway and very large dam imo; the problem was the realtor friend of mine told me that it never held water as long as it had existed. About a 4-5 acre pond I believe. It had been dry so long when I looked at it that full grown sycamore trees had grown from the bottom of the pond to a good 30-40ft. I might need to take another look at it to see if bentonite or pot ash would seal it or would it require a liner. Bob, that's a great idea about a contract contingent upon the pond doing what you want it to. I will have to keep that in mind. I love it when I'm reminded to use common sense.

Mr. Linder was the land cheap?? Man! if so I would look into it!! Get someone to look at the site for you. The only problem is that it might need some work done to the core! If so that could be very bad! I have seen these problems before! It's a mess, water starts comming out under the Dam...instead of the stand pipe and the pond never fills up!! and as time wares on it gets wores...
careful careful!!