pond repair

[Use Less]

Can someone clue me in on what's required to repair a pond? The person who built my house and his BIL next door threw up a big dike across a small stream. There's a side outlet. It is most of an acre. It was 18' at deepest next to dike, but has to be way less now with silting up. Most of the dike is on my property. We have had water wash over in spring & summer heavy rains for some years. Now there are 2 significant cuts, and a 3rd not so big. Those need filled & packed somehow. Should I also be keeping brush & saplings off the dike? What about mowing the grasses? Since we'd have to hire equipment, we're likely to hire this done. Ideas on what we should look for in a contractor. Thanks, Sue

[big rockpile]

It might be filled in enough to where it is needing drained and dug out.Keep trees and Brush from growing on it.

big rockpile

[Witterbound]

Need to have some type of an overflow, to prevent the deep cuts. Have one done when the water goes down this summer. I'd keep anything big off the dike, as the roots will provide a way for water to seep out.

[jwal10]

Depending on how deep the washouts are, the pond dike in that area may need to be rebuilt and lined with clay to keep that section from leaking. If that area needs to hold water it needs to be keyed in and the "dirt" used needs to be just the right moisture to be compacted with a sheepsfoot roller. The sediments in a pond are not good material to use for dam building. Keep trees from growing on the dam itself, be careful if you just cut and kill them as when the roots rot it leaves a cavity for seepage to strart and can cause a dam to fail. I rebuilt a dam on a large reservoir when it became waterlogged and slipped, causing the dam to wash out. I used a D4 cat and mixed the clays and packed it all in with the tracks. Widened out the base and sloped it all back. I have raised a large reservoir by cutting in a keyway and filling and packing. Make sure the overflow is big enough and if a pipe it is sealed well with a collar so erosion around the pipe doesn't begin and cause a failure....James

[agmantoo]

jwal10 has given some great information above. I use a siphon design for ponds I have. Here you can see how it works. This method is great for reducing silt buildup as well as controlling water level. The exit angle of the pipe in this drawing show around 45 degrees. I have mine as true vertical as possible. Doing so reduces the erosion from the exit water as the energy of the water is expended by gravity.
http://www.ponddampiping.com/syphon1.html

[Use Less]

Thanks for replies. See from OP that there is drainage at the side, possibly the original small stream. The builders poured a good-sized concrete barrier across there with a pipe opening at the bottom. That needed more flow from the outset, I suspect. Water has washed away around the sides of the concrete, so they've put fill like rocks & broken concrete, around & below it, but the stream can really get rushing during spring & heavy rain. The size of the pond, amount of water, someplace for that water & silt to go seems to me to make draining impractical. The neighbors draw their grey water from the pond, but we are likely to be footing the repair bill ourselves. We'd want it economical anyway. Sue

[fantasymaker]

The key to that shipon or just a drain pipe is to run a pipe to the UPPER end of the pond that helps suck out the sediments and heavy soilds transported in with hard rains.