Building a pond?

[Shiloh Acres]

I'm afraid I don't know anything about them, but I see ponds in many people's pastures. Just by the lay of the ground I know they are artificially built. Water doesn't set uphill on it's own.

I'm wondering just the very basic steps to go about building one. Obviously you have to dig a hole and make any berms, etc. But what I REALLY want to know is ... What keeps the water from seeping into the ground? Are they lined with anything? Clay soil? I'm in east Texas, and my soil is mostly the "black gumbo" type, though this drought has hit so bad it's turning into a dust bowl before my eyes. (Seriously, the animals stir up so much dust when I move them tonight I couldn't see for a little while).

I have a small pool/pond that I use a pump to drain into the garden in order to water the garden and hopefully fertilize it with green goosey water. Then I refill it each day. It's more water than the garden needs though, and I'd rather have something more stable (and larger and cleaner) that the other animals can make more use of if necessary. I have two spots picked out, and might just move the geese put front and to their own pond and let the pasture have a cleaner one to cool the animals and as an extra water source.

I'm just not sure how they get the water to stay in them.

 

[SKR8PN]

Around here they remove the topsoil, and line the pond with the clay found naturally about 4-5 foot down and compact it when dry. Sometimes they have to use Bentonite to hep seal any small leaks.

http://www.pondsealer.net/

 

[Wifezilla]

Bentonite...plastic liners...

Out here in CO bentonite is common.

 

[Marshmallow Man]

I talked to a guy that built ponds for a living. When they are done right they are almost like a swimming pool. They actually have a pump that circulates the water and a liner. They simulate a real pond which usually has a source of some kind and an outlet. Otherwise they get algae build up and the water can get nasty. The other kind is the kind that just fills sup from rain and snow ant then the water drains in to the ground so the algae growth is controlled.

Obviously the first method is very expensive.

 

[Wifezilla]

"Though fairly common in Europe, natural swimming pools (like the one pictured above in an Austrian family's backyard), are in their infancy in the United States. Ask most American swimming-pool contractors to build a backyard pool and chances are they'll roll out a long list of goods, including rebar, gunite, fiberglass, chlorine and an energy-sapping filtration system. But in recent years, a few builders and a growing number of homeowners have learned how to build pools without relying on a mass of manufactured materials and chemical additives. They've found it's possible to construct pools that are more about building with nature and blending into the natural landscape. Natural swimming pools use gravel stone and clay in place of concrete or fiberglass, and aquatic plants instead of harmful chemicals and complicated mechanical filtering systems. The plants enrich the pool with oxygen, support beneficial bacteria that consume debris and potentially harmful organisms, and give habitat to frogs, dragonflies and other water life. The result is a beautiful, ecologically diverse system that is relatively inexpensive to construct. (A natural pool can he constructed for as little as $2,000 if you do it yourself, while conventional pools can cost tens of thousands of dollars.) Natural swimming pools require no harmful chemIcals, are fairly low-tech, and once established call for only a modicum of management. You won't have to drain the pool each autumn. Except for topping it off now and then, you'll fill the pool only once."
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Do-It-Yourself/2002-08-01/Natural-Swimming-Pool.aspx

 

[ksalvagno]

Around here they basically just dig the hole for the pond. The neighbors had a pond dug. All the guy did was use his bulldozer and kept making the hole deeper until it was the right depth. The clay wasn't even tapped down or anything. We have clay here so I guess the bulldozer going over it and over it tapped it down enough because the pond is full and definitely not leaking.

 

[Marshmallow Man]

True, they also drain out which is why they are able to be natural. If the water stays there forever it gets stagnant. So as long as you have a natural water source that drains in to it you can make a very nice backyard pond by digging a hole. If you don't have a water source then you have to keep refilling it. Or you can just let it get covered with algae.

They can dig holes in places with a high water table and the water comes in and out naturally. Then you throw some fish in to eat the algae. Otherwise you will have algae. If you have a horse tank you know that algae forms in it and you have to constantly rinse it out. We have all seen ponds that don't have a fresh water source that are covered in algae and slime.

 

[Shiloh Acres]

Thanks so much for the info, everyone.

The soil here holds water pretty well, when it rains. So hopefully there is enough clay to just dig it out and compact it. I'm so glad to know the ways it is done in different places, I guess with different soils. I'd like to not have to top it off often, but I want it clean enough too.

I paid close attention today to the dozen or so on my way home. We have had a drought for months, and they are all lower than full. Some barely low and only one down a couple feet. I doubt the farmers add water. They'd need looonnnggg hoses. So hopefully I can do a simpler one.

Mentioned wells to my pastor's wife and she told me of an older man who placed their second (shallow) well that never dried up in 30 years and has cleaner water than the deep well. He has someone else to do the digging now but she said he's always been reasonable. I'm hoping to look into a new well AND get a pond in, and I'll feel much better for the animals' sake too.

I knew water was the main problem I would have if things were not usual, and due to the drought we did get cut off for a bit. Some towns are off for a pretty long time, worse than us. But I have to refill the rabbits, chickens, and geese twice a day with my current system, so being cut off without warning was a problem.

Not to mention the water bill here is the highest I've ever had. Just the actual water part is almost $50 a month, so a well would make more sense.

Thanks again, all.