If I understand it right, he has another junky dam 5 ft from your property line. I believe I would tear it out. It just might impound enough water to be a problem (flood) to your new dam/property when it fails. At best, it would give you a lot shallower water hole.
Yeah, forgot to take pics of that. Will try to do so on the next trip out. I'd be real hesitant to tear his dam out as he's a bit of a jerk (understatement) and would probable start screaming lawsuit. We already had the NCRS guy look at it and he said it didn't violate any laws so we don't really have any recourse. Although I guess I could take up the hobby of experimental rocketry and let one get away.... For the time being I take comfort in knowing that he made the top of his dam level with a very flat grade, and there is no spillway. The dam is only about 2-feet wide at the top and maybe 3 or 4 feet wide at the bottom if memory serves. I haven't been to the fence line to look at it in a while.
I PERSONALLY would tear out the old dam and reuse/remix the soil you get out of it with new clay or sandy loam. I don't have a lot of faith with patching the holes of failed dams.
Like Otto says, make preparations for a 100 year flood of Biblical proportions. Even in Texas, we could get enough rain to be about 1,000 years ahead of the curve on 100 year floods.
Tearing out the old dam is definitely in my plan. Even though I didn't know much when I started planning for this project I knew better than to try to path the old dam. As for the floods of biblical proportions, we've had 2 of those since we've owned the property. The first one filled that entire valley where the pond sits and BOTH the main dam and the overflow dam were completely underwater by as much as a foot. The distance between the back or our cabin and the pond was reduced from about 100 yards to maybe 50 yards and the little shed that is about a 100 feet from the ponds edge almost became a dock.
The second flood happened about 8 years after the first, and it's the one that took out the dams.
I'm a little concerned about the clay content of the soil. even that red stuff seems awfully sandy and will readily erode if left exposed for too long. Might have to get someone out to do a soil analysis if it's not on the paperwork from where NCRS did some erosion control work for us shortly after we bought the land.
