I have a very small stream that runs within 20 feet of my small pond. The stream is really nothing more than a trickle that runs into a bigger stream nearby. It runs in an ugly gulley through the middle of my yard and I want to put a plastic pipe in it, divert the flow to the pond and fill in the gulley with top soil. The stream runs slightly downhill towards the pond. Thats my idea anyway. Does anyone see any problem with this or can anyone offer any suggestions or alternatives?

If the discharge from the pond does NOT exit your property the same place as the little stream, that could mean legal problems.

I am with Theo on that!!! I have a similar issue where the stream was about 5 ft from my pond and I diverted it into my pond and did come out in the same position as the creek wentout initially. I still ended up with many neighbor headaches (some documented somewhere in the forum) It is a tricky thing dealing with a creek even a seasonal one like mine. Be careful and be ready to potentially deal with neighbor and legal issues. It can turn the best of friends into something less than that.

How many acres do you have and where is this located on your property (middle, etc.)?

Sorry for the delay, I had to go out of town. I have 11 acres and the pond sits near the back and out of view of anyone. The overflow for the pond discharges into the same larger stream that the little stream does. Like I said, it's nothing more than a trickle that runs into the real stream on my property.

What is your neighbor situation like?

The ones I have met are very friendly. All are way out of sight of my pond and my proposed house site. I don't think neighbors will be an issue at all. I was mainly concerned with running this stream water into my pond because it's basically just storm runoff. Any issues there? I was thinking about the potential for introducing nitrates/pollutants, etc. There are many farms in the area. If that would be an issue, I would just bury a pipe, fill it in and just let it run into the stream it has been running into. I just thought that having an extra source of water for the pond might be a nice thing especially in drought times. Thanks

There probably are some regulations that you need to check into for diverting water from a stream. I've heard that there are some basic laws that say as long as you don't change where the water enters and exits your property, you are OK, but that really needs confirmed.

Obviously, no one is suggesting you to do anything against the law.

But you have to consider if anyone will really care if you do anything.

I'm nearing the completion of a pond renovation project. I have a creek that runs alongside the pond but did not feed it before it was drained. The contractor wanted to pipe water from the creek to the pond to ensure sufficient water. He has done it before but wanted to make sure the authorities were OK with it. The County NRCS people came by last week and said no problem. This creek is unnamed but on maps and definitely visible from the County's aerial photos.

I'm not sure what your local authorities are like but I think you're only about 50 miles from me. I would take the high road on this and seek approval - especially if your 'creek' is on a local map or aerial photos.

As far as 'nice' neighbors I have 'nice' neighbors but someone still called the township to make sure I was doing something legal and approved after hearing my contractor's bulldozers operating for a few weeks.

Be careful.