Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Renovating a Pond or Lake? Pond Leak or Normal Evaporation

I bought a property a couple of years ago that has what used to be a nice 1/2 acre pond on it. (Old aerial mapquest image shows what it looked like when it was full.)

The pond was about half full when I purchased the property and started going down from there. It was pretty much gone last summer due to the drought, but after a 5" frog washer of a rain, it filled back up to roughly halfway again. That was about 6 months ago.

It's still way low even with the occasional 1-2" rainstorm.

This past week I did the bucket test... Put 6" of water in a bucket and a flag in 6" of pond water. When I went back to the property yesterday (6 days later of sun and 90 degree every day) it was down to 4" in the bucket and the flag was now in 4" of pond water.

So maybe a dumb question since it appears the evaporation rate was the same for the bucket and the pond... I just feel like the pond goes down awfully fast, especially here in north Texas when it gets to be 100 degrees every day...the pond will be gone in a couple of months if it doesn't rain.

Another thing I'm wondering is if it's the current lay of the land... The pond is 10' deep at it's deepest, but about half of it is only about a 1' deep, so I'm wondering if that's why it looks like it dries up so quickly when it starts going down. I have plans in the future of bowling it out more so that it is 3-4' minimum in the shallow parts (red lines in image).

That is if I can find a pond guy...seems to be impossible around these parts.

I will let the experts confirm, but from what I have observed in Oklahoma with similar climate conditions it is usually up to 1/2 inch per day due to evaporation.

If you know your average rainfall and calculate the days you have with that kind of weather that should give you some idea of what amount of water you should expect to be able to maintain.

I have kept average rainfall records for our area and it only averages about 30 inches per year. I already know I will never maintain the pond at full capacity without supplementing. My pond is currently over 4 feet low.

There are about 27,000 gallons, per inch, of surface acre. If you think you would like to attempt to maintain or raise the level by supplementing. As Mr. Lusk says, we just borrow the water, we won't keep it.

I appreciate the feedback. I want to say when I researched before, we received on average about 30" of rain per year as well.

As I typed that sentence I decided to look on the net and see if I could find something. Whala.

https://www.weather.gov/fwd/breckenridgeclimatology

This breaks down the rainfall totals for decades and it does look like 2022 and 2023 were about 10" below normal and for 2024 we're only sitting at roughly 21" so far.

I'm wondering if something could have impacted the watershed as well, because the neighbors ponds are all full or just about there. Although my property is 60 acres and the pond sits in the middle and I feel like the work I've done around the pond (clearing trees and brush) should have only helped the watershed.

Figured I'd also add pics of the pond full (not sure when this was) and how it looks now on google maps.

My pond just South of Bowie Texas is about 60% full after some good rains. Full pool in West Texas is an anomaly unless you have mucho big rains and lots of runoff area.

In about 25 or so years, I’ve seen full pool about twice.

If your occasional 1-2" rain has been like ours recently, the ground swallows up that moisture before there's a chance for it to run off into the pond. What hits the pond sticks for a bit but the runoff has been lacking for sure.

Hang in there!

Dave, I figured up there by Witchita Falls you'd see more rain. When the storms come through here they usually stay just south of I-20 and just south of me

Good point. That seems to be what happens.

I like that your bucket test matched your pond test. Means you probably do not have a leak.

Surface area of your pond is one of the critical variables for total gallons evaporated. When your pond is full (and almost twice as large) your evaporation rate in gallons per day will be very high.

When your pond loses all of the 1' deep water and shrinks down to its smaller surface size, then your evaporative losses will be much less.



I doubt there are significant changes to the watershed for old, well-established ponds. Are the neighbors' ponds that are mostly full upslope of your pond in the same watershed? When you start to get more rains after an extended drought, the upslope ponds will fill first. Only when those ponds begin to pass water through their outlets will your pond start to get more water than just what rain falls on the immediate slopes of your pond.


Finally, if you did clear enough trees, then your might have slightly increased the evaporation rate at your pond. My creek is tree lined and in a low spot on the land. Many times it will be calm and humid at the creek, while it is dry and breezy when I work at other parts of the farm. You letting a little more wind reach the surface of your pond might have allowed a little more evaporation. However, in most pond situations, it is beneficial that you cleared the trees. Their roots can steal water from your pond if close enough, and the leaves, pine needles, twigs, etc. cause organic muck to build up on the bottom of the pond and steal some of your depth.

If your pond is mostly full when you go back in time on satellite views, then patience for the rains to get closer to normal may be your best option.

Good info.



I attached a topo map that I came across. It appears my pond feeds the neighbors according to the blue lines. Where the blue line starts is a steep dropoff into a 15 foot ravine that levels out as it gets closer to my pond.

I added the yellow line to show where the water comes from. During heavy rains water will pool where I added the white circle. That is where I was thinking of adding a very small cattle tank. But, I guess that would further limit water getting to the pond.



I didn't think about the wind accelerating the evaporation. Suppose all I can do is wait for the rains.

If you are upstream of their ponds, then your pond should fill first!

Two possible problems:

1.) The closer you get to the uppermost slopes of a watershed there is LESS water available. Most waterways in nature exhibit a dendritic (branching) pattern. The farther you are downslope in a watershed, the more branches come together and the more water is available to fill ponds. (Assuming the water was not intercepted upslope.)

2.) Observation bias. Are the ponds around you truly full? If your pond goes down 2', then it substantially shrinks in size in the satellite view due to all of your area of 1' deep water at full pool. If your neighbor had a pond with perfectly vertical sides, it could go down 2' during a drought, yet it would look to be exactly the same size on the satellite view.

I do NOT like that your pond went almost completely dry last year. I think you were in a long term drought, but probably not a record drought. I suspect the watershed to your pond may be undersized. Are there any waterways on your property that transmit water bypass your pond? Diverting that water to your pond would probably be the best way to sustain your pond during subsequent drought conditions.

Additional thoughts:

Even if your pond shrinks down from a 1/2 acre to a 1/4 acre during a drought, you could still support a decent fish population. However, if your depth in the deepest parts is only 8' when you go down 2', then you are really starting to push the limits for fish survival during a hot Texas summer. Do you have AC electricity available near your pond? If so, you might read some of the aeration threads. If your fish are in warm 8' deep water that is well aerated, then they should still survive a Texas summer during a drought.

However, if your pond is going to go almost dry every seven years due to low rainfall periods, then any fish population development would have to be based on relatively short term goals to make sure you don't waste a lot of money and effort.

Also, your idea to build a cattle tank upstream might give you double value. It would water your cattle during normal rainfall periods, and you could fence off your larger pond and exclude the cattle and develop that pond for fishing and/or recreation. During a really bad drought, you could then siphon or pump water from your cattle tank to your main pond to save your main pond. You could then give your cattle access to a small corner of that pond to get THEM through the drought.


I agree with you that patience may be your greatest virtue at this point. However, I was just throwing out some more information above for you to consider as you start getting more rain and you get a better feel for the "rhythms" of your property.

Good luck on improving your property and practicing your rain dance moves!

The two ponds that are closest are relatively bowl-shaped, so they hold water more "evenly". The one closest to me is 95% full and the other 85%. They were just about dried up when mine went dry last year. (I say dry...mine still had about a 2' of water in a 20' diameter...to me that's dry)




I don't believe so. It's fairly easy to see where the water runs. There is one area on the west side of my property that appears to be an old watershed. There is a small ravine running towards my neighbors pond, but that eroded area never gets "sloppy" in heavy rains like the area running to my pond, so I'm not sure if water still runs that way or not.




So when I bought the place the pond was fairly well stocked. Cast a line, catch a fish. Lots of bluegill and 1-2# LMB. In fact, I reeled in a couple of monster large mouth bass. Was sad when the pond went down so much because I knew I had lost them. Not sure how they did it, but I know that a few fish survived the dry spell. I have reeled in a 1# LMB since then and you can see a few decent bluegill swimming in the shallows.

I actually just added 100 more fish two weeks ago. Doubt they all make it, but it's more of a test right now.




The large pond will not be accessible by the cattle once the new tank is in. Even if the small cattle tank dries up, I have a well on the other end of the pasture and multiple 700 gallon metal tanks as backup. I like the idea about siphoning off water from the cattle tank if necessary. It would be about 1500' away from the large pond, but would be pumping water downhill so wouldn't be too much strain on a trash pump I don't suppose.


I'm afraid my dance moves would all but scare off anything around, including the rain.

Ranger, my land is at the top of a hill. Elevation increases about 10 ft at the front gate and then rises more. The clouds split around it. My lower neighbors get more than I do.

When I met Lusk, many years ago, he asked where my place was. I told him and he said that he had watched those clouds split on TV weather reports for years and finally knew why.

I don’t really understand the phenomenon. I once put a rain gauge at my front gate. The gauges are about 200 yards apart and can vary as much as 30 to 40%.

That's wild. I have noticed something similar on a couple of occasions when I'm driving up/down Ranger Hill on I-20. It's a 300' elevation change and it'll be storming on top of the hill but not once you get to the bottom.