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Joined: Apr 2021
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So I bought this beautiful house and there is a small maybe 30 x 30 duck pond(made) not sure on depth but most likely let’s just say 3-4’ deep. The banks are eroding with the highly saturated soil. The surrounding areas are mostly cedar swamps and higher grounds with oaks , so I have a mixture here. What can I do to prevent the banks, at least the banks I have left from eroding more. I don’t have access to back yard for equipment really so kind of strapped.

I was thinking of using a bunch of broken concrete block I have on property to make some kind of wall but need help, any suggestions are welcome and appreciated

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Pics would be great to help understand the situation

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From the sounds of it the banks are eroding because the slope is too steep for the ground to be stable and it is sloughing off into the pond.

It all depends on your goals for the pond, and how visually attractive you want it to be.

When you say you don't have access to back yard for equipment, do you mean that you cannot even get a mini-excavator in there? Doing everything by hand will be very labor intensive and a PITA.

Broken concrete won't look that good (I think). If you could go around the banks of the pond with a shovel and make a step in the bank, then lay bags of concrete on the step, then 1-2 more layers going up and back out of the pond you could make a concrete terrace all the way around the pond that way. If you go that route, take 1-2 24"-36" pieces of #3 or #4 rebar and drive them through the bag when it's placed. That will lock the bag in place on the soil. and the bag will suck up moisture and harden making a large squarish stone. In a year or two the paper will degrade off of the sack.


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I would love to but it’s not letting me attach an image

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Broken concrete blocks make great rip rap.

However, you said "beautiful house" with a pond. If the pond is visible from the house (or the places you frequent in the yard), then I would go for both attractive AND effective.

Does the water level in the pond fluctuate very much? (You may need to live there a while to answer that question.) However, if it does not fluctuate much, then improving the pond borders is a smaller task.

Anecdote: I recently called the biggest aggregate supplier in our area and was trying to get a better description of some of their available products. The manager's response was, "Just drive down to the facility and check in at the weigh station. Then you can look around and find exactly what you like."

It is surprisingly cheap to get an entire dump load of many rock products. (The closer you can get the dump truck to the pond the better on your labor/time.)

My advice would be to get some good recommendations on Pond Boss to fix the problem, and then install something that looks nice and works.

Good luck, and congratulation on your new home and pond!

1 member likes this: Jeff in Mich
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I was thinking of doing a broken concrete covering it with dirt and then the landscaping rolls and then maybe do something like you were saying on the top put a couple concrete bags there and it’ll build up the bank as well as solidify it does that sound like it would even work?

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There are two types of erosion that can cause the "cut bank" that I think you are describing.

The first type is wave erosion at the surface of the pond. Each little wave draws a tiny amount of sediment from the bank into the pond, until it makes a flat shelf of sediment just below the water surface of the pond. This becomes a relatively "stable" feature because the shelf of sediment just under the water robs the waves of their erosive energy. There is a chance your pond looks badly eroded, but it is not actually getting worse.

The second type is called "headwall erosion". Imagine the sharp ravines in the badlands of the old western movies. When water flowing down a slope hits a steep edge, it picks up lots of velocity and continues to erode the steep bank in a headward direction. This may be the case in your pond if there are lots of surface flows of water through your yard into the pond. It should appear worse where there is a little dip or gulley in the yard coming to the edge of the pond.

The second type is easily fixed by grading the yard to divert the surface flows away from the eroding areas.

It is not possible to give the "best" fix over the internet because every situation is unique.

My advice would be for you to watch the erosion over the spring and summer. (Unless it is getting rapidly worse.) Observe what is happening under the changing conditions of the seasons. You should then be able to formulate a reasonably priced solution that also minimizes the required labor.

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Originally Posted by Jeff in Mich
I would love to but it’s not letting me attach an image


You have to put the image on an on-line image hosting service first. I use imgur. Then grab the link and post in the thread.


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