Greetings from Oklahoma. Our approximately 1/2 acre pond was dug in late 2008 and finally filled in 2009. We spent much of 2010 working on sodding, seeding, and sprigging around it, well as stocking and building a small pier.


During late summer last year, we lost quite a bit of water to evaporation (hard drought), followed by a cold, dry winter and spring. We were down about 5' but we're finally full again this year, thanks to a 5" rainfall that came in about 8 hours. Some (all?) of our pond water comes from runoff.

We've now acquired the acreage next to ours, and there is a well there that we'd like to use to keep our pond full (or at least fuller than last year). We have electricity very near the well and ready access to a licensed electrician. The water starts at 17' and goes down to 45'. A well guy checked it last year and said we top out at about 6 gpm but that it fills back in with water fairly quickly, so we were thinking we'd shoot for 2-3 gpm. Do you think this will even be enough to keep up with evaporation during hot summer months? We'd also like to install 3 hydrants across our property between the well and the pond to be used for livestock, garden, etc.

Sooooo, what types of things should we consider when buying a (submersible?) pump and figuring out what size line to lay? We can always upgrade a pump later, but we'd like to get the right size pipe the first time (*grin*) rather than saying, "shoulda, coulda, woulda" later.

What other questions should we be asking ourselves at this point? And what concerns should we have (if any)?

Thanks!