Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Soil questions sugar sand in eastern nc

I am in eastern nc and want to dig a pond. The water and soil rep came out yesterday and said that I would need to go down deep enough to hit a layer of sugar fine sand and that this would be what would keep the pond full by the static pressure in the ground. I have allways heard that I needed to dig down into but not through the clay. I have a well about 100' away that will give me 12 to 14 gpm that I was going to use to keep it full. Have any of you dug a pond in eastern nc and did you go down to the sand layer?

That doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me but I'm not a NC soil and water rep.

If we can assume that the sand is not isolated and runs for a considerable distance (a seam) then you will be adding water to a considerable amount of underground strata. You will, in effect, be creating an aquifer. But then, I'm not a Pro like he professes to be.

I have a pond dug in sand. The level will fluctuate up to 6' depending on the amount of water in the ground. I also have a well that I run to the pond. It pumps 25 GPM, and during periods of little rain (like now) all it can do is keep up with the ground water dropping, but not raise the level of the pond. That is with the pump running into the pond 24/7. If I had a choice of a pond with a clay liner or sand into the aquifier, I'd pick clay..........

If you dig down into the ground right now, does the hole fill up with water? If it does, how far beneath the surface does the water come up to?

Thats what it sounded to me like also. He called it a vein of sand that the water flowed through. I have a spot that is level so no collecting of a lot of rain. My soil is made up of 8" of top soil then 5 to 6' of orange clay that has very little sand(can roll it into a ball, Then about 4 to 5' of blue grey clay(sticky). will this hold water? would I have to bring in clay for a liner? I want to dig a pond about 40x50 and maybe 8' deep.
Thanks.

You're lucky to have the clay. Stockpile it, and even if he gets into the sand, he should be able to plate the clay over the sand providing that a LOT of water isn't trying to come into the pond. Sheepsfoot roller, knitting together each layer put down. If it was my pond, I'd make sure that there was 24" of clay packed/knitted/rolled together up and above the expected full pool water level.

Search here for bucket test. That'll tell you if the clay will hold water or not. I'm guessing yes.

I would do as esshup suggests. I would then dig a nearby shallow yet large-volume well down to that sandy layer and pump water from it into the pond. That way the well would not need to be deep, and you could monitor the well depth for a few years to see if the soil guy was right or not. If right and the level stays desirable in the well, you can always expand the pond at some point into the sand layer and no harm done.