Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Selecting a site Examine my land please :)

Hi Guys,

I want to show you my land and i need your help to decide how to use it. Create a dam? Probably this is only the option. I want to share some pictures with you. If you want to see my land on Google Earth, please use coordinates on Google Earth and check it .

What do you think guys?

Fatih, what part of the land in the picture is yours?

That 100 meters long and 20 meters high land is mine. I will build a pond and a house on it. On Google Earth picture , my land is the one on that coordinate.

Guys, why am i not getting any help on this thread? :))

Picture 2 is what you'll most likely go with. It won't change the watershed if you flatten part of the land for the house. Only the pad where the buildings are will be flat, you can still keep a minor slope to the land towards your pond. Land doesn't have to have a drastic slope to it for the water to drain in that direction. 2 mm per meter slope will still have the water drain to the pond.

Thank you very much esshup. I get what you say completely. Even 2mm will be something.
But what's the average ideal incline rate for a very good draining brown soil with grass on it? I don't want an exact number. I know i have to get my soil tested and make lots of other investigations about incline rate but i just want to hear something average .

I can only relate this observation.

I have sandy soil, with some clay mixed in that was dug out of the pond. Not enough clay to hold water, not even enough to make it "sticky" when wet. But, once the ground is soaked, I have surface runoff into my pond. The ground drops about 45 centimeters from the road to my pond, and that horizontal distance is about 140 meters. The water will run from up near the road all the way to the pond thru the grass.

Once it gets close to the pond, the drop increases slightly, and if there isn't any plants to hold the soil together, the water will cut a 30 centimeter deep channel in the ground. It doesn't take much of a slope to get the water to run in any one direction.

Faith, have you had your soil analyzed? How much rain do you receive? Are you going to have a well?

My thoughts as well! Looks extremely arid to me, and salty in some nearby areas (unless it snows in July). Glanced over the terrian and didn't see any surface-water - except some swimming pools in the nearby town.
Some tree farming is evident, and the town certainly requires water - so I'm guessing there are wells involved. ?? Otherwise, I saw little evidence of surface-flows. Building the pond is one thing. Filling it with water might be an entirely different challege - based on GE appearances....

Esshup, i get what you mean now. I do. Thank you very much.

highflyer, thanks for the answer. I haven't gotten my soil analyzed yet. But what qualities of my soil should be analyzed? I don't know what i will expect to know after analysis. We get 600 mm rain , and 1200 mm evaporation. So it's almost horrible.

Kelly , thanks a lot man. I was expecting some help just like you gave me. Thank you. You are right. Our climate is drought and we don't have almost any water. Do you think in this land , is there enough watershed area?

I want to give you some other coordinates and i will appreciate if you can check these coordinates Kelly. 37 04 29.46N 37 10 31.47E It is between 2 seasonal little streams.

If you see any land that you think is suitable for a pond and that's maximum 15 miles(birdfly distance) far away from "Gaziantep" city, i will be happy to hear .

You can see the topografy of the city on this link : http://www.uydutr.com/topografya/gaziantep

For starters, I'm NOT your guy for qualified pond-construction guidance - which certainly isn't my area of expertise. I was simply intrigued by the challenge & ability to remotely assess the site from half-way around the globe; and merely offered my non-professional "concerns" for filling a man-made pond under your region's apparent climate conditions.

Disclures now complete; I think the alternate coordinates that you provided would offer much better topography for capturing rainfall (compared to the original site). Beyond that, I'm at a loss for providing further guidance due to the numerous factors that should be considered.

I'll include some images of the alternate site below and see if someone can offer any suggestions for you to pursue.

Kelly, thanks, thanks and thanks man.

I don't know if i pissed you off a little bit. Since i am not a native English speaker, i can't understand if you are implying that i asked too much help from you.

Anyways, i appreciate your help so much. It looks like i won't get much help on this thread. My question might be a little too hard to answer.

I called some real estate guy who sells lands for this district. He said there is a great amount of water in wells , in this district. I will need to drive see it myself soon.

Oh, heavens no! I wasn't upset in the least. Sorry if my response seemed agitated. I just wanted to convey that I'm not a experienced resource for pond-construction information.
If you eventually build the pond and subsequently encounter aquatic weeds or algae, maybe then I can be of assistance.
Good luck with your effort - and don't give up on this site as an information-resource. Folks are really "busy" preparing for Christmas and may not visit the PB site very often for the next week or so. As for me, this is the season when I have the most time for visiting the site.
BTW, you write better English than many natives of my state speak.

Kelly, thanks for your great help. If one day, i have a pond , i will name one of my catfishes, Kelly Duffie .

Ah , yeah! I forgot you had Christmas . It's so normal, i am not getting much help here .

Thanks for your compliments about my English .

I've had a goat named after me, but never a catfish
Sadly, that goat met the same fate as most farm-raised catfish
Oh well...

BTW: the irony hasn't escaped me that the event which prompts my annual Christmas celebration occured only 644km from the coordinates presented in this thread; yet 11,265km from my home near Houston. Definitely something to ponder....

Duffie is the sweetest last name i have ever heard . Definitely gonna make a great pet name :)).

I don't get the irony you are telling Kelly. Where is that Christmas celebration? Close to my city?

Fatih,please dont get discouraged,the last thing anyone here wants to do is give you incorrect advice.The second property looks very promising,but we can only speculate from this far away.The fact that there is a lake about 1-2km away even more so.

How large of a pond are you looking to build?

What do you intend to use it for?decoration,fishing etc.

Yeah, Duffie is a real sweetheart.
Hey Fatih, I expect a lot of us will be here during Christmas. We are pond junkies. Junkie is an American term for addict.

Robert, thank you man. I know how nice all you people are here . I love your hospitality really.

I am planning to build a 1/2 acre pond. I don't know how water conditions are in my hometown(i am not there right now) but when i find out i might have a larger or smaller pond. If i had enough water, i would make it to 10 acres .

Hey Dave, I will join your pond junkies group as soon as i have a pond .

Faith, everyone here will be glad to help, but I think there are basic issues that need to be explained. First we don't tell the land how big our ponds are going to be, our land tells us how big they should be. Second, if you are looking for a place to buy and build on, talk to local farmers who understand the land and the water before buying. About where to buy, there are so many issues that can not be seen in a satellite shot that all we can do is talk in the very general. If you have to rely on us, your chances will be diminished.

About soil testing, you need to know the basics before trying to build anything. Is there compaction, will it hold water, what is the soil made of and what is its PH are a few of the things to know, and there are many more.

Other things to think about: Are you allowed to drill a well? Do you need to or can you capture enough runoff to keep you body of water full? Will you have flow through? Do you have the right to capture runoff?

These are just a few things to think about before deciding to buy land and build a pond. Not to mention the costs of your adventure and mistakes.

Hopes this helps.

Oh and look in any direction from these coordinates for a place that might interest me.

37° 2'40.97"N 37° 9'39.16"E

Brian, first of all i thank you very much for your help.

Here in my country there is no possibility of getting help about ponds, since we don't really have ponds and i just wanted to hear a few words from you, about my plans

I will be in my hometown in a couple of weeks and i will start a local research about every information i need and hopefully we will make more accurate decisions.

Brian, i wonder , why did you prefer these coordinates , instead of the coordinates i gave you? I am just asking to learn "how to choose an appropriate site" . I want to see from your vision .


Thank you.

I have a good idea why, but I won't step on Brian's toes.

Scott, you can say anything you would like, this is a family and all inputs are welcome!!

Faith, I looked at this area because it is a lot like what I have in Texas and I studied what has already been done within your constraints of 15 miles from your town. The clues are the lake above this area, the agriculture in the area and the wild vegetation in the area. But things I can't learn from a satellite picture is how well the soil will hold water, for that, you need to test it. People like Mike Otto can tell you how to do simple tests that would point you in the right direction.

Another thing I saw in the satellite picture was a change in the soil color which possibly indicates better sediments which means you could have better water quality. Also, there are several creeks right there which means runoff.

I hope this helps. As you gain knowledge, you will be able to ask more questions which is fun to do.

Merry Christmas

Brian, you got 'em all.

In that area that you indicated, even if there wasn't surface water, I'll bet there is an underground aquifier that would support a good sized well.

Whether or not there is land available and whether or not the soil conditions will support a pond can only be determined by physically being there. But I think the soil would be better near an area that already has bodies of water.

So you are saying I'm trainable.........