# Potential Pond



## Drewhop (Aug 6, 2008)

I have been doing a bit of reading. Kind of wanted to do a bit more research before I talk to my father anymore about it.

My parents own about 10 acres of land in Marion County. About 4.5 acres is there yard and it has a few pine trees and there house and driveway. 5.5 is wooded. The Olentangy River runs thru there woods.

I guess what I am looking for is. 
1. How much cost is usually associated with a 1 acre+ pond

I can provide decent satellite photos of the area a pond would be located.
2. I have seen a few resources that assist in this but wondering who I should contact to be exact. I found this http://ohioline.osu.edu/b374/

and this http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/Home/Fis...er/fishingponddefault/tabid/6219/Default.aspx

I have read most of this stuff. But would like to hear some first person advice as well.

Thanks for any help.


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## bkr43050 (Apr 5, 2004)

The cost can really vary a lot depending on the amount of excavating that needs done among other things. I can't even give you a good ballpark figure. I am having a guy come out to look at our place again for a the possibility of one and give an estimate. If I can remember to do so I will report back here. mine will not be an acre, more like 2/3-3/4. An acre pond is pretty good size. I am not saying that you don't know the actual size for an acre but I have talked to a lot of guys over the years that way overstate the size of a pond. You can come up with a pretty good guesstimate on size from using some of the counties' auditor web sites. At least our county has an area feature built in and that you can click out a perimeter to obtain an acreage.


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## Drewhop (Aug 6, 2008)

bkr43050 said:


> The cost can really vary a lot depending on the amount of excavating that needs done among other things. I can't even give you a good ballpark figure. I am having a guy come out to look at our place again for a the possibility of one and give an estimate. If I can remember to do so I will report back here. mine will not be an acre, more like 2/3-3/4. An acre pond is pretty good size. I am not saying that you don't know the actual size for an acre but I have talked to a lot of guys over the years that way overstate the size of a pond. You can come up with a pretty good guesstimate on size from using some of the counties' auditor web sites. At least our county has an area feature built in and that you can click out a perimeter to obtain an acreage.


I understand completely what you mean. The auditor has the property listed at exactly 10 acres. The property is almost a perfect rectangle so its pretty easy to see the 60/40 split (roughly) 

Wish I could remember how to link a exact pic from Google Earth/ good map satellites images. I would say the area that the pond could potentially be located could easily take a 1.5 acre pond. If the ground and everything is good.

any more suggestions or feedback is appreciated


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## Brent Nickel (Jul 30, 2007)

contact Marion County Soil and water Conservation District and have them come out and do a site visit. They will tell you how suitable the land is for a pond (soils, etc.)and would be able to do a survey and design for free of charge(I think). This will enable you to get some acurate estimates from contractors as far as cu. yds. of dirt to be moved.


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## [email protected] (Dec 22, 2006)

Ditto what Brent said. It's free and they have nothing to profit from it. They know the soil and how to build different types of ponds.

A football field is pretty close to an acre.


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## Drewhop (Aug 6, 2008)

[email protected] said:


> Ditto what Brent said. It's free and they have nothing to profit from it. They know the soil and how to build different types of ponds.
> 
> A football field is pretty close to an acre.


So it is closer to 1.25 acres then. 

I spoke with my mom this morning and forgot they are putting a large addition on the house. That would cut it down to about 1 acre available in that area. 

So i think realistically 3/4 acre pond would be comfortable.

I will get ahold of them tomorrow and see what they say about surveying the land.

They may just have it done when they do the addition.

How does one of these surveying sessions go. Do they come out and do all of the planning. Or do they just check and see if the land will hold water and say yes or no.


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## boss302 (Jun 24, 2005)

county soil and water office is a good starting point. Just keep in mind that they will not help if your site conditions are not ideal. My parents ended up consulting a local excavator (Amish guy who did their driveway and basement). The county agent said the site wasn't suitable, the excavator took a look then built a dam and they have a ~ 3/4 acre pond. (original hope was 1 acre +)


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## Drewhop (Aug 6, 2008)

Pretty excited about this. I know it is for my parents but I think it is something my father really needs. He has wanted a pond for as long as I could remember. I am also restoring his boat and it should be hitting the water in the next few weeks.

Found out tonight that my uncle has the equipment and will only charge fuel costs to dig it. 
I spoke with a lady at the SWCD and she was very helpful.One of the things she mentioned is that her office only does design plans if they do not have other projects going on. Not sure what she meant by that but basically sounded like she way saying other things took priority. Not offensive way she spoke about it just confused me a bit.

Talked to my mother for quite a bit about it. She also informed me that there are two possible locations on the property she would like to have it. She was also not against taking a bit off the woods to make it larger.

So does anyone know of some links to possible pics for shapes of different ponds. Maybe even personal preferences or some links to some of your own ponds. My father is the person who got me hooked on bass fishing. I would love to be able to provide him with a great bass fishery in his own yard. 
Thanks for any help. I also noticed that someone on here was a part of a company who handles stocking I may be in contact with them soon as I track down there name.
Sorry for the long post and rambling.


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## [email protected] (Dec 22, 2006)

Here's how it worked for me with Clark Co.:

I called and said I'm planning to build a pond and told them where. A guy called me a day or so later and scheduled a time to meet on site. He arrived with various soil, topographic, and drainage maps and had researched the site based on those maps already. We talked about the soil types and their properties related to pond building, how it could be built, where the water would come from and how it would discharge both under normal conditions and during flood events. We also lightly discussed permitting and related laws and regulations.


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## Salmonid (Apr 14, 2004)

I also called the SWCD here in Montgomery County and the kid showed up, turns out he had just graduated HS a year earlier and was even in one of my wifes classes, ( she teaches HS) so lets just say it was a good thing I had done all the research ahead of time and that I was able to decifer the soil maps he brought. He was a nice kid and in his mind, said my pond would never hold water with a lack of drainage into it but it has held up perfectly as planned. Just be sure to make sure you get someone who is well trained and been doing this stuff a while vs the new kid on the block. 

Ask them to make a copy of the soil map for you and to bring it so your Uncle or other contracters can help you determine if the soils are right for holding water. 

Good luck, 
Salmonid


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## Drewhop (Aug 6, 2008)

So spoke with my parents again tonight. Wanted to get a idea of what size they wanted. They seemed to want to go as big as possible. Which is great in my opinion.

So I loaded up my trusty Google Earth. Did some measurements based and wanted to get a few opinions. Google earth was very accurate. The house length and what I measure using googles tool was within 1 foot. So pretty accurate.

I will post a few pics and a small edited picture and maybe get some more info from this great group of guys I get to choose from.

Red=Possible Pond Shape
Pair of Dark blue X's=265 Feet
Bright Green X's=135 Feet
Pinks X's=75 Feet
Light Blue=50 Feet. 
These are close estimates. I am going to go out this weekend or next week and actually measure things off. 

Ok Yellow circle is septic system. Not sure how that effects things.
Blue line is water line from City.

Anyone see any problems. Can anyone tell me rough acreage of something this size. And potentially how many gallons depending on depth.

Here are the pics.

Parents Property Unedited









My great MS paint skills.


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## bkr43050 (Apr 5, 2004)

Here is my acreage calculation based on your map and measurements. I broke the area into two pieces to calculate, one long rectangle and a smaller one.

265 X 50 for long rectangle = 13,250 sq. ft.
85 X 75 for smaller rectangle = 6,375 sq. ft.
Total 19,625 sq. ft.

1 acre is 43,560 sq ft. so 19,625 / 43,560 = .45 acres or about half an acre.


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## [email protected] (Dec 22, 2006)

Why not the opposite side of the house? Driveways are fairly costly to install and this way you wouldn't have to remove the existing one. My pond is 100' from my house, I wouldn't want it any closer. By your drawing, it looks like your thinking about 50' away.


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