NRCS guy told us we would get adequate compaction with our 65E Challenger pulling a loaded 4 wheel rubber tired 12 yard scraper if we would move over the width of the tire trak and track all the area (6" lifts).
That is what we used compacting our core trench and the rest of the dam. No leaks that I can see, but we have relatively forgiving soil. We have clay pan soil so have a good source of clay, and he said even our type of topsoil had adequate clay that it would usually seal without added clay, but to always use our best material in the core trench, then in the middle of the dam. That is what we did.
So a lot is likely dependent on what soil a person has to work with.
Most of the hundreds (maybe thousands) of old cow ponds in this area were nothing more than scuffing the topsoil off the dam area, and pushing up the bowl into a dam, compacting it with the dozer. NRCS guy said it was not unusual to see some of them with slight seeps, but we are in an area that gets enough rainfall not USUALLY a problem. Not saying that is the proper way to do it, and it definitely is not the way we did our "nice" 3 acre pond. But a farmer can not spend $50,000 on a cow pond to water 30 cows. So a lot of ponds were built at minimal cost, and almost all of them held water (I have one farm we bought 25 years ago that had an existing pond that did not -was dry - it had sandstone in the bottom). We normally do not worry about compacting the bottoms of ponds (unless there is gravel, rocks, etc). Our area is such that water does not sink down. It runs off the top. We have a subsoil percolation rate that is measured in hundredths of an inch per hour with no compaction. If we have a low spot in a water control terrace in a farm field, we have a "pond" that will last till the water evaporates.
I think the important thing is to have someone local that knows the soils and also professional recommendations either from an experienced pond builder or NRCS to evaluate the situation before the pond is started. People that know the area and soils. In other words, one size does not fit all.
Last edited by snrub; 02/11/14 01:11 PM.
