Building a dam?

[BK911]

Have a small spring on the bottom of the property.
Always has a little water flow, even through the drought a couple years ago.
Thinking of scraping out a little hole and making a little dam.
By little, I mean maybe 2 - 3 feet deep hole, and about the same height dam.
Pond would be roughly 100' diameter.

Thinking maybe the top foot of the dam, about 10' long, would be gravel with drain pipes installed to keep the water level from washing over the dam and eroding it.

Bad idea?
Any better ones?

[sammyg2]

Building a dam?

A dam what?

[BK911]

Something like this:




Blue is existing creek, about 1" deep.
Light blue would be proposed pond boundary.

[Evans, Marv]

When I worked at a camp in the mountains a long time ago. We had a spring we used for a water source. The collection pond (maybe 30 - 40 ft. diam.) was downhill from the spring and fed a 5K gallon tank downhill from that. If the spring flow isn't very forceful, would making the collection pond directly over it suppress the flow from pressure of the water column? Would disturbing the spring outlet affect the flow? Provisions for overflow from large storms? Since it's at the "bottom of the property", you might need to answer some questions before starting.

[ckelly78z]

I see your location, and have to wonder whether the use of this Damned pond will be for legal purposes ?

[Craig T]

Originally Posted by Evans, Marv

When I worked at a camp in the mountains a long time ago. We had a spring we used for a water source. The collection pond (maybe 30 - 40 ft. diam.) was downhill from the spring and fed a 5K gallon tank downhill from that. If the spring flow isn't very forceful, would making the collection pond directly over it suppress the flow from pressure of the water column? Would disturbing the spring outlet affect the flow? Provisions for overflow from large storms? Since it's at the "bottom of the property", you might need to answer some questions before starting.

This is sound advice^^^

A friend bought some property outside Bend, OR, with a small year-round spring. He built a similar dam just 30 or 40 feet down the run-off line. When the pond level covered the spring with a couple feet of water it stopped flowing. The water became stagnant. He was expecting a beautiful clear pond with bluegill and crawfish. All he got was tadpoles and mosquito.

I'll call him and see if he solved the problem and report back.

[BK911]

The water level will not be above the spring inlet.
The inlet is about another 100' up the ravine, maybe another 4' or so in elevation.
But excellent feedback.

[vonsmog]

A pond that shallow might be nothing but cattails in a few years.

[Craig T]

Originally Posted by BK911

The water level will not be above the spring inlet.
The inlet is about another 100' up the ravine, maybe another 4' or so in elevation.
But excellent feedback.

I just spoke to my friend in Bend. He got a good laugh out of my call. That's exactly what he had to do. He demo'd the 4' damn and rebuilt it about 150 downstream. That put him 6' in elevation below the spring. He said that now he has his bluegill and crawfish...Although he "doesn't know why". "What the hell do you do with bluegill and crawfish?"

[BK911]

Thanks for the info Craig!
Not interested in fish, but an emergency water source and swimming hole.

[Evans, Marv]

"What the hell do you do with bluegill and crawfish?"[/QUOTE]

Eat 'em!! Bleugill are a little boney but good tastin.

[red-beard]

The EPA is charging $75,000/day over a private citizen's pond, but don't you worry about their revisions to the Clean Water Act - Hot Air Hot Air

[Rinty]

Originally Posted by BK911

Bad idea?Any better ones?

For starters, I suggest you check whether there are laws or rules in your jurisdiction that regulate the construction of things in, or next to, watercourses.

My home province has very strict rules on this, even in relation to watercourses on private property.

[LEAKYSEALS951]

Speaking from experience with my dad's lake and ponds, I was always amazed at how much water could come through in floods and would overwhelm the drainage culverts/ etc. often undercutting them. I remember tons of rip-rap getting carried away like little pebbles. You could hear them knocking against each other when they got washed off.
When you design the drainage/ overflow culverts/ pipes. Take whatever you think you need and quadruple it. It still won't be enough!

Same goes for digging it out- make it twice as deep as you think you'll need, and make sure to consider stumps if you need to clear trees before filling/ and you will be swimming.

Stumps in my dad's lake were still there after 30+ years, as were lawnmowers, Jimmy Hoffa, etc..

[Seahawk]

Some really good advise so far, especially checking local, state and federal regs.

I have what is locally referred to as a "Tobacco Pond" on my farm, which at one time was a tobacco farm.

The pond is fairly large...they used the ponds to irrigate tobacco crops during dry years. The pond does have a central drain plus a designed in overflown on the right side of the pond during periods of heavy rain when the drain is overwhelmed.

There are plenty of good, practical web sites on dams and pond maintenance. Maintaining my pond is a pain in the buttox, btw.

[vash]

i know damn little about dams..but i'm pretty sure they are curved the other way as drawn.

[KFC911]

I have three ponds on my rural property, and I wouldn't take nuthin' for them . My little slice of paradise. I don't think what you are proposing will work out as you think however...if sunlight can reach the bottom, stuff's gonna grow, and you will have a mess to maintain, and a stagnant skeeter hole.....go deep or don't. My smallest, lower pond is about the size you're talkin' about and is no more than 3-4 deep right now....cause the damn muskrats breached the berm on one side and drained most of it . I'm just about ready to fill the breach and let her rise back up another 4-5 feet. My largest pond (outflows to the middle one) covers a spring that I have seen once....when I as a child, but it's a good spring....the outflow can be as much as a garden hose on full blast to a fire hose....the land is sitting right on top of the aquifer. My great-grandfather's well was/is 24' deep with 18' of water in it.....you need a GOOD spring imo or you will just have a mudhole. If you do build a damn, I'd suggest a (capped from inside the pond) 4" pvc pipe through the damn below the water line so you have an easy way to lower the water level. The primary outflow can be 4", but you need a large one a bit higher for overflow purposes as pipes get clogged too....all pass through the dam. Ponds are ecosystems...I love 'em . Today I watched itty-bitty fish fry spewing up from the fish spawning beds like a volcano erupting...never seen that before....amazing!
I'm tired of typing.....but could go on...

I did hook a whopper bass this morning....reeled for a minute or so before she got in the grasses and shook my barbless hook out...oh well

[MBAtarga]

My in-laws had a natural spring on their house lot they owned years ago. FIL had built a small concrete formed damn - about a foot or two in height and about 10 feet across, mayb 6-8" wide. He had a small "spillway" right in the middle. Placed large rocks at the base on the spring side. They had a small water fountain pump that ran continuously in the center, and in the summer, he would hook up a garden hose to the pump and water the lawn. The entire pond was about 100 sq ft (10 x 10).

[Heel n Toe]

Just bring in a family of beavers and be done with it.

[flatbutt]

BK, is there anything immediately downstream from your planned site that you don't own and which could be damaged by uncontrolled over flow?