putting in a pond

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our property includes a site that was a pond until 2 years ago when the owner drained it to subdivide. He tells us we can excavate a new pond there. Excavator he recommended says it can be done pretty easily but will cost $$$$$

Anyone done this? Advice?

-- alana (lester@erols.com), July 29, 2000

Answers

When I bought my farm it had everything I wanted except a pond. There was a swampy area about 100 yards from my residence which had several springs in it. I hired a contractor to come in, bulldoze the trees into piles and then use a trackhoe, dozer and two dump trucks to built about a one-acre pond. Yes, it cost a lot, probably about the cost of a brand new, fully-equipped SUV, but twenty years from now that SUV will be in a scrapyard while my pond will be even better. Also, the dirt which was dug out was spread on a low adjoining pasture to dry it out. On the cost, when all equipment was in use, it ran about $1,000 a day.

A rule of thumb is a well-constructed ponds adds three times it's cost to your property value - and it's not included in your tax appraisal.

I will refer you to several books which your local library should have or be able to borrow from another library:

- Earth Ponds: The Country Pond Maker's Guide by Tim Matson.

- Getting Food From Water: A Guide to Backyard Aquaculture by Gene Logsdon.

- Ponds - Building, Maintaining, Enjoying: The First Complete Book of Farm Pond Management by Carolyn Garrick Stern, offered by Progressive Farmer Magazine, Box 830069, Birmingham, AL 35283-0069. Cost was $14.95 postpaid when I bought my copy.

The Countryside Books store has The Earth Pond Sourcebook, but I have not seen a copy.

I am a bit suspicious of the original pond having been taken out for development purposes. Perhaps either it wouldn't hold water or wouldn't fill up from rainwater or a spring. It takes a pretty good watershed to keep a reasonably-sized pond full. Between Waverly and Dickson there is a pond someone built by daming up the end of a small hollow. It is maybe 100 yards long. During the rainy season it mostly fills up (and one year broke through the earthen dam). During summer and fall it goes almost dry. My neighbor diked up around the area of a seeper spring and has constant trouble trying to keep a water level it in. Right now it is completely dry.

People with swimming pools are at a liability risk if someone's kid slipping in for a swim and drowns. Same thing may apply to a pond. You may have to take out a separate liability policy, which isn't very expensive. I have a policy for $1M on my farm through State Farm and it costs about $200 a year.

To me, the ideal pond would be something like the reverse of a doughnut. Deep around the outside with a shallow area in the center to give fish a place to spawn or you can just restock each year. Steep banks and deep water will go a long way towards water weed control.

Chances are your local ag agent or soil conservation agent will have material on building and maintaining a pond. Sometimes the latter even has grant money to help in building them if it can be shown to either prevent or slow down soil erosion.

If you have kids, having access to a pond, particularly for boys, can create a lot of great childhood memories.

-- Ken S. (scharabo@aol.com), July 30, 2000.


Depending on where you live, you may need a permit to build a pond, or you may not be able to build one legally. Where I live, it's a big no-no to construct a pond. When we were first "building" our farm, I had the soil conservation district rep out to help us design run-off for our barns, etc. I asked him about a pond, and I got a seriously dirty look. Around here, it screws up our water distribution and other systems I guess. Sheesh....all we have is water...we practically float around here most of the year! Anyway, we built a small one anyway (shhhh....)but you should check out the legal requirements first.

-- sheepish (rborgo@gte.net), July 30, 2000.

A good web site for pond information including some of the legal aspects is Ohio State University. Go to http://wwwosu.edu/search/ and type in "pond management". That should pull up about 150+ pages of information.

-- Don Brueggert (bruman@bright.net), July 30, 2000.

As I mentioned on the other pond thread, check with your FSA office about funding for a pond. Here in IA there is plenty of money for ponds.

Also you can figure that a dozer will cost you anywhere from $75/hr - $100/hr depending on the size of the dozer needed and local costs, etc. You will find a small local operator that has only a few pieces of equipment will usually be cheaper than a large outfit.

-- beckie (sunshine_horses@yahoo.com), July 31, 2000.


Before you have any work started get several quotes from different companies. The operator your seller recommended might be might be his brother-in-law. Generally, the more charge per hour means heavier equipment is being used, which means less time on the job. Kind of works out to be about the same. If they have put in ponds before get references and go see the ponds and talk to the one who hired them. I don't know your situation, but this doesn't sound like a huge job. There use to be a pond there. It is now dry. A dozer needs to built a new dike with probably an overflow pipe in it. It's not brain surgery.

-- Ken S. (scharabo@aol.com), August 01, 2000.


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