I built my pond next to a creek because I my land only goes to the middle of the creek. I didn't have any choice in doing it this way. One of my concerns was in hitting a wet spot, or spring that would drain the pond down to the creek level. I got lucky and found good clay all the way down, so it never became an issue, but if you dig down and find a "spring" you might also have found an underground path to that creek!!!
To fill my pond, I bought a 3inch semi trash pump and ran it 24/7 for about a month. I raised the water level about six feet I'd guess before the winter rains arrived and I quite. My pond is just over 4 acres, so a smaller pond would be allot easier to fill with a pump.
Since then, I've been working on the rest of my land to channel drainage off of my land and my neighbors land so that it goes to the pond. Putting roads in that have drainage ditches along them work great for catching rain water. Then the water follows the road to a culvert, where it goes to the pond. When I'm done, I'll be catching close to 70 percent of the water that lands on my property, and allot of what drains off of my neighbors land.
I'm currently getting about twice what it rains. A one inch rain will give me two inches of water. I want that to be more like six inches of water, though I sort of realize in the back of my brain that four inches is more realistic. We'll see....
Also remember that some rains don't add any water to your pond, while others add allot. Conditions of the soil, how fast it comes down and what it travels through all make a huge difference as to what you end up with in your pond. Trees catch and hold a massive amount of water. Pasture sheds water.
Good luck,
Eddie
