Hi guys, I've been here numerous times to research ideas as I've been rebuilding our pond for the last 6 months. About 17 acres in East TX, we rehabbed a dam on our family farm that washed out in the 50's. I bought a dozer, went in and dug the core out with a trackhoe, then just pushed a TON of dirt. 450 foot long with 11 feet of water in the middle. Rip rap spillway and 1 - 8 inch pipe that just passes the water straight through for now - will put an elevated intake on it later, and another 8 inch siphon (came here for that idea. Thanks to keith at pond dam piping!!) These aren't sufficient to keep the water at the right level because, fortunately, we have a LOT of water moving through our place.
We have really taken a "Ready - Fire - AIM" approach to this thing - feel like I've been 2 weeks to 2 months behind where we shoulda been for this whole project. For example - I shoulda got the dozer in July and built in august - got it the first of october. I didnt realize how dry the lake was gonna get in the drought - it has NEVER gone dry like this:
When i saw this^^ the first of Sept, the water had gone down 2-3 feet in a matter of a few weeks and I realized it was going to be my Only chance to ever do this work and was able to talk the wife into it! Two weeks later there were two feet of water where i stood to take that pic. It keeps coming - now, there is ~7 feet and our final depth will be 9-10.
We had a bunch of brush that stood in 1-4 feet of water on either side that i was able to clean up a lot.
We are trying to lower the level because the trees on either side of the lake are standing in as much as 5 feet of water. I tried and tried to get loggers to come in and cut em out, they got there right as the water was coming up about 3 feet as we were building the dam, so it left a bunch of trees standing.
We are severely limited on our approach to building the dam because our neighbor's dam backs water up onto our property - there is 3-4 feet of water right on the back of our dam (I know
) and they cant drain it. His is 60 acres. I've brought in 32 16 yard loads of rip rap - some for the spillway, some for the front of the dam (it faces south and we get a lot of wind blowing waves down the lake - making waves and washing the front of the dam), and some for the back of the dam to try to keep it from sloughing off.
It's been quite a ride building this thing - I guess I'm hoping for another drought so I can get it closer to "right" before saying "done."
Here's a couple more pics:
Before:
After:
