Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Building a dam Spring on back side of proposed dam

I am designing a farm pond in North Carolina.
The dam will be approximately 15ft high with an estimated pool area of 1.2 acres.

There is a small spring located on the left back side of the proposed embankment. I can not move the pond downstream to include the spring in the ponding area due to property lines. If I move the dam upstream to avoid the spring I will loose too much pool area, which the owner needs for irrigation.

My question: Will a toe drain catch this flow and move it safely away from the embankment? If not I need some suggestions!!!!

A toe drain might catch it and move it, but if there's a spring, it means there's sand. Sand layers in the soil = bad pond location.

I would make sure you've got good soil. If not, save the landowner a load of money by recommending not to build a pond.

I would like to see the land/soil before giving much advice, but we have two ponds built on springs, one is about 15 years old, the other 50+ and the dams have held just fine. These springs run enough to usually keep the ponds full year round. They also both have springs on the backside and we have never had trouble with either. There are times of the year when you cant even drive an ATV on the backside of the dam because the springs there are running too much. Basically what Im saying is on that particular piece of land there are springs everywhere and we have had no trouble with dams holding. We are actually thinking about another pond built on another spring in the same way as the other two I described.

That being said, I wouldn't want to build one for someone else on such a piece of land.