Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Pointless idea for channeling water?

I need to buy a new hay cover and I was thinking about putting it right next to the pond and attaching some gutter to the roof which channels the runoff into the pond.

There would be 100 sq. ft. of roof and according to the below calculation I came across, for every inch of rain, that would direct 60 gallons of water into the pond: (not much I know)

1" of rain = 0.6 gallons of water from every sq ft.

My pond does a great job of collecting water. It went from being 3/4 full to full with one rain. It's busting at the seams right now with all of this rain we've been getting...and another 3 days of it is in the forecast.

My concern is our Texas summers. The pond obviously loses water, although I don't know how much since I haven't owned it through a summer yet. (I've seen some pictures where it looks pretty darn low.) The goal here is to not lose all of the fish I am currently stocking.

As I mentioned before, the pond collects a huge amount of runoff, but during the summer months, even when it rains, I'm assuming a significant portion of it gets absorbed by the extremely dry ground before it makes it to the pond.

So do you think it's worth the trouble to do the whole gutter setup, or is that many gallons (60-180) at a time just pointless?

The other option is to pump water in from the creek that borders the back of my property, but I'm pretty sure the creek stays dry throughout the summer (unless there's a big rain), so that probably isn't an option. Plus, I'm guessing that might even be illegal.

Hey Edit. How big is the pond? During the summer you'll lose an average 5 gpm/acre over the entire day so 60-180 gallons is pointless to try and gain. You'll lose that much water in less one hour.

Chris, it's a 1/4 acre. I wasn't aware of those numbers. Thanks, yes then it is certainly pointless. Ha.

Looks like we're in the same area too (RR County).

Yeah based on losing a 1/4" per day a 1 acre pond will lose 6700 gallons a day from evaporation alone. Evaporation may even exceed 1/2" per day when it is windy and low humidity.

I'm in the far NW corner up by the red river. Whereabouts are you?

Thanks again for the info. I guess I'll just have to see what's in store this summer.

I'm 3 miles south of Clarksville.

Y'all under water up there too? My place is a mess, but hey, at least the pond is full.

You are in a part of Texas that will get a little more rainfall than most but still its Texas. Your idea is a good one and will not hurt but as Chris said it may not do a lot of good

Yeah just a big muddy mess up there right now.