Now we have permission, found a good location and dug test holes to find out that there is enough clay content.
The watershed is just as important as any other step. Having enough water to fill and supply the pond, is better than having a dry hole in the ground.
Watershed can be a drainage ditch from a wooded lot, large grassy field, or the beginning of a small stream. Other source of an under ground spring, small seeps and using a part of a small stream.
This drainage ditch or fields are known as the watershed. The watershed does not want to come from a pasture that is in use with cattle or horses or from a field that are plowed yearly with crops planted.
These conditions will add fertilizer to the pond increasing the algae growth and being plowed the loose dirt will eventually fill the pond with silt.
Depending on your geographical location and how often it rains will determine how much watershed acreage you will need.
Having 2-3 acre’s of water shed can supply a one acre pond. Again depending on the rain fall.
Next is the water entering the pond. It is possible to just let the water run over the grass then into the pond, but if the water should erode the grass into to the dirt, this would allow silt and dirt to cloud the pond and start to fill in the pond bottom.
The remedy is to slow the water. One way is to dig a ditch away from the pond to capture the incoming water, fill with washed gravel then dig a ditch and lay pipe to the pond allowing the water to splash on rocks.
