I watched a man run a 3/4 inch pvc pipe to try and fill a fishpond for years. I couldn’t figure it out, either it would or wouldn’t, fill it up with water or dirt!That dude built a 5 acre pond and filled it with a well? How did he know his well could fill a 5 acre pond and keep it filled?
That's what I want to do, but scale it down to 1 acre (something more financially friendly).
Does anyone here supply a pond with a well?
His soil was more sandy than he had originally thought (hoped), so they had to bring in truck loads of clay to line the bottom of the pond and dam.a lot of your success will depend on your soil make up. I’ve got a one acre pond in the sandy part of Taylor County (Mauk) that runs off a well and has to be pumped up pretty regular. It’s had fish in it and has done fine for 15 years but it does have to be pumped. If sandy soil is an issue, putting some Bentonite (clay for lining ponds) in the bottom can help. I’ve also got 14 ponds in SC that run off wells (7 ponds on each). Ponds average 10-14 acres in size. Three days per pond to get that depth. I generally pump these up to 18-20 inches in late October and they will hold close to that depth till about April. Way more clay composition in those ponds as opposed to the sandy one in Taylor. A bunch of factors come into play and wells can be an expensive pain.
Say what? You have 7 ponds on a single well that average 10-14 acres each?I’ve also got 14 ponds in SC that run off wells (7 ponds on each). Ponds average 10-14 acres in size.
I know, not at all. I get the math. I do math for a living.To clarify on my response, i wasn't trying to discourage your from using a well. There are plenty of our customers that do to supplement their water level in their ponds. I was just trying to point out that you need to do the math and make sure it is feasible or else your power bill will be thru the roof. Like Squealer mentioned, if you have a sandy soil situation where the pond is constantly losing water you may have to run the well A LOT to keep it full or else consider some type of liner.
We just typically see where our pond customers don't really grasp the volumes that are involved when dealing with a pond. Your layperson typically thinks they can lower/drain their small neighborhood pond effectively with a 2 inch trash pump and that simply isn't the case.
I'm more curious about....ok....there's a pond down the street. I don't see a creek going to that pond. How are they getting their water?
That's where having a soil scientist or hydrologist can help (which i'm not). The small pond down the road that doesn't have a stream feeding it could be spring fed or your water table could be shallow and they just dug down to it or it coudl just be purely stormwater runoff fed. you'd be surprised (especially here in Georgia with our clay soils) how easy it is to keep a decent size pond full with just stormwater runoff. In the metro area we actually average 52 inches or so annually. Problem is we don't get it an inch a week throughout the year. We can get 5 inches in a week like we did this week and then not get a decent rain for another 3-4 weeks. In that case you would either need to deal with the pond level fluctuating or supplement with your well intake as mentioned. In my opinion 1.0 acre pond is the sweet spot because you can do a lot with it and "play" with the fishery and other aspects pretty easily and quickly.I know, not at all. I get the math. I do math for a living.
So I can pretty easily figure out evaporation vs annual rainfall vs power requirements. But what you don't know is what you don't know.
I'm more curious about....ok....there's a pond down the street. I don't see a creek going to that pond. How are they getting their water?
If this sort of thing works pretty conveniently (using a well to top off a pond during drought) and the cost isn't exponential.....then that may be the route I have to go.
I was attempting to buy land from my neighbor for a water source but it doesn't seem to be working out. That alone was going to be pretty...expensive.