Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Renovating a Pond or Lake? Renovating a Pond in TX

We just purchased some property a few months ago here in Texas. There is a breached pond (1/2 acre but 15-20 feet deep so it has steep slopes).

The soil is sandy and rocky and there are trees all around the pond. I think it was only ever sealed with bentonite (or local clay).. and between the trees, sand/rocks I imagine it never worked very well.

The pond itself its on a higherish point on the land so I'm not sure how they ever filled it up outside rainfall. I will be installing a well to fill the pond.

So I'm going to go in and clean it up. Here are my plans/goals/questions:

1. I'm going to rip out all the trees

2. Expand the footprint from .5 acre to 1 acre. I would like to dig it deeper too so I can hold more water on a surface 1 acre pond. It will also help lower evaporation issues.

3. The slopes near shore will be 3x1 and then get progressively steeper. I plan on using a liner as opposed clay due to sand/rocks/roots. I will use used carpet underneath the liner.

4. Is there any issue with a steep slope on a liner assuming it's sealed properly? I'm debating between PVC and EPDM. I'm looking at alibaba on getting some at way cheaper than retail prices... Is there any pressure/weight issues of that amount of water?

5. I'm not planning on having fish in it (irrigation only), do I need to worry about DO levels?

6. What else should I be thinking about?

Welcome to the forum!

What else to think about....

What will be in the pond to eat mosquito larvae?

How will you be sealing the liner to itself, or can you get a liner in a single large enough piece?

Do you have equipment to move/unroll the liner? (do you have any idea what it will weigh?)

Will you be covering any exposed liner material to cut down on the UV degredation of the liner?

Thanks! Those are all great questions.

I hadn't extensively thought about the mosquito issue. I had hoped to circulate the pond water plus I would be moving a lot for irrigation purposes. I'll have to think about it some more. Dunks would be too expensive in the long run so perhaps I'll throw in some mosquito fish. Do you have any suggestions?

The well water has a high iron content so I was going to aerate it anyway to help remove it. I just wasn't going to worry too much about the DO level.

I will be sealing the liner to itself.

I do not know what the liner will weigh but I will have an excavator & FEL on site.

PVC I would have to cover the liner. EPDM it doesn't appear I would have to cover it. I saw a video of a guy covering a pond with 6 inches of shotcrete but that seems very expensive.

Thanks for making me think and if you have any other thoughts please let me know!

You could also use Fathead minnows for mosquito control. The plus side to that is that they are commonly used for crappie minnows too.

Wow that sounds more like a mini open-pit mine than a pond. I wonder why so deep.