Thread: Converting a swamp like area into natural permaculture like pond

Top clay soil was all removed and an access temporary road was placed to allow the heavy equipment a reach to the excavation zone. we measured and marked with white gypsum the deepest part of the pond. creating a 3:1 ratio (length/depth) slope

the plan was to dig out the deepest part first and than go from the sides and pull the dirt up creating the slope. however when the excavator reached to the 3 meters depth mark, we discovered an underground stream of clear water ! flowing in fast, a natural filtration and continuous all year round of clean waters that will feed in to the pond - we could not be more happy.

the contractor quickly decided to work his way from the spillway point up.
and excavator started to shape the pond making its way from the bottom spillway up.

we removed the top soil from both sides of the pond as well and we are dumping and filling it with the sand and gravels digged out, later it will be covered with the reserved top soil that we pilled up from the pond area and the sides..

water are filling fast, we are pumping it it out as the pond grows bigger.

the works continues, slowly shaping the deepest part of the pond working the way from east to west, clear water are filling up quickly from underground stream, we had to install a pump to drain out the water and allow the diggings.

the soil we dig up is placed is north to the pool creating a very low raised hill to match the hills view to that direction adding to the view depth

Introducing Godzilla also known as PC200. An earth eater that within 3 days excavated the entire pond



now that the pond is opening up, the unclogged river is feeling much better, the waters are flowing nicely, using the the small PC60 excavator we will shape the slopes of its banks for a more natural soft and round feel, which will be also less dangerous for kids and animals,

It's starting to look nice and will look better as the years progress and you get vegetation growing around the pond

nice work

Do you have a cost breakdown for others who might want to do the same?

Originally Posted by S Landreth

It's starting to look nice and will look better as the years progress and you get vegetation growing around the pond

nice work

Do you have a cost breakdown for others who might want to do the same?

Yeah it won't look the same in a couple of years time , a German guy did much the same a few years ago not far from me ,at first it looked a real mess, now its really beautiful with all sorts of vegetation with several species of water lily's at the shallow end and a few trees at one end to provide shade ,the water was really cloudy at first but now its crystal clear .

Originally Posted by S Landreth

Do you have a cost breakdown for others who might want to do the same?

Sure, I will sign off this thread with a cost breakdown. the excavation resulted with excavation of about 4000 c.m of earth that unpacked into 6,500 c.m. now we will need to clear it up, filling and shaping the sides of the pond.

i expect another two weeks of work into the new year.

Waters are gradually filling up the pond - half way up now.... the machines are slowly shaping the pond banks

Originally Posted by aircut

i am really curious to see at what level the waters will settle up using only the underground water stream as a source, the pond is still disconnected from the grand water system around us, the drainage ditches we created to divert water away from the pond excavation area are still open and flowing nicely. when the underground stream will reach it's full filling capacity, and when the shaping of the pond's banks will be completed - we intend to block the diversion channels and control the desired water levels a by carefully placing the the spillway point at the correct height.

How I envy you to have the land to take up such an undertaking you will sit back in a few years time and look at your beautiful creation with a certain amount of well earned satisfaction !, keep them photo's a coming!.

Happy New Year.

We resumed the earthworks. The shaping of the pond banks are almost finished, while the water levels continue raising, now at 2/3 from the expected depth.



we had to close the bottom temporary spillway to allow water to accumulate.


Our neighbors are flooding their rice fields and we can see how the water ooze from the ground.



In the next week we will have to deal with all the earth we digged, we will fill the both sides of the pond, to raise about 75 cm higher than our neighbors’ rice fields, and smoothing the pond banks to a soft slop.

while the water level are still on the rise.

we did a level measurements with a land survey camera all around the banks of the pond to assure that the banks are at the same sea level all around the pond. we marked the desired height with painted bamboo sticks.



tractors is pushing the dirt and filling the ponds' sides to be 75 cm higher than the neighbors' flooded rice files.



we keep the drain ditches open to prevent any chemicals our neighbors might use from reaching the pond and our property.

the unclogged river is at full levels, we will mark today the exact slope we wish to shape it's banks



i am also attaching a west view of the excavation area from the teak forest we have at the eastern part of the property

Waters continue to rise, filling almost the entire pond shape.




we are most amazed from the quality and the clearness of the water. nature gave us a wonderful present - a natural pond filtration system, and a continuous inflow of underground waters.



we are also very pleased with our calculations and evaluation of the wetland problem that prove to be effective. we turned a wetland into a crystal clear large pond .....) we would probably need to wait another couple of weeks until the pond is totally full.

Originally Posted by aircut

we are also very pleased with our calculations and evaluation of the wetland problem that prove to be effective. we turned a wetland into a crystal clear large pond .....) we would probably need to wait another couple of weeks until the pond is totally full.

Congratulations it does look nice (even if the grading around the pond isn’t completed as of yet) and I would hope would set an example for others here who plan to construct a small pond on their property.

A work of art Aircut well done ,by the looks of things the water will be crystal clear when it settles down properly , just a word of advice ,the German guy who made the fish pond near me made the sides of his pond a sheer 1 metre drop to the water ,his reason for this that his friend who did much the same , made his banks sloping into the water,he lost thousands of fingerlings to the little herons and egrets that abound here in Thailand ,when the banks are sheer they cannot wade in and spear the fish .

Originally Posted by piwanoi

A work of art Aircut well done ,by the looks of things the water will be crystal clear when it settles down properly , just a word of advice ,the German guy who made the fish pond near me made the sides of his pond a sheer 1 metre drop to the water ,his reason for this that his friend who did much the same , made his banks sloping into the water,he lost thousands of fingerlings to the little herons and egrets that abound here in Thailand ,when the banks are sheer they cannot wade in and spear the fish .

Thanks for the advise piwanoi, we will probably ends up with a non uniform slope around. the idea is to create as many micro-environments as possible to encourage natural diversity of plants and animals. birds are welcome as well ;-))

most of the day yesterday was dedicated to leveling the pond banks.



the one million dollars question is how high to keep the ponds banks.




we know we need to elevate the area on both sides higher than our neighbors the rice fields, we already set up a mud barrier and a drainage ditch between us, and we will shape a 3% slope that will allow rain falls to run sideways to the drain ditches and not allowing mud runs to enter the pond.





so the first stage is to create the pond mouths, compacting it as much as possible by letting the heavy equipment to pass over it as many times as possible. it will compact the earth and reduce leakage from areas where we had to raise it.



than we will check the water levels again, and using land survey camera level the banks at the maximum water capacity, allowing some extra for the rainy season increase in water. we will than scrap off the extra land height and will determine where to set up the spill off point

Very Impressive,A Beautiful creation no doubt about it ,and when you get your water plants in and the bankings grassed up wow! water lilys are the easiest thing to plant all I ever did was tie the roots to a brick or stone with twine and just lob them in in no more than 1 and a half metres of water so the sun can get at them and they grow like mad!,please keep the photo's and progress reports coming

Got to agree with Piwanoi, it really is a work of art Aircut.

The scenery does remind me of some of Constable's paintings:





or:





and possibly...





You'll have Nigel turfing up before long, easel in hand...

Thanks for posting, it's a really interesting thread.

What no ha-ha?

^ He's still got his diggers there so not too late.

I'm wondering if Aircut is planning on building a house on the land. If so then I may have inadvertently set our expectations for that thread a bit high...

Thank you for the kind words

@Roobarb - Cool comparison, I will use your images to convey to the workers the slope we are looking for ;-), and yes I am planning further construction projects on the ground which i will share here wen time comes...

water are flowing strong to our neighbor pond (wetland) which is located uphill about 2 meters higher than our pond.





we covered up one of the water diversion channels we digged up earlier in the construction stage that diverted water from his pond directly to the river, so we expect more underground flow to reach our pond.




the diggers leveled most of the area around the pond and now are doing another round of survey measurements to have the banks at the correct level.
so we are quite sure that if we can level the spillway at the exact height we will reach the desired water levels in our pond.

Well done what great vision you have.

most of the pond's sides are now roughly leveled, waiting for a more delicate touch later next week,



we did some extra excavation at the front of the pond to adjust the shape and depths.



we should be done in less than a week.....

I envy your location and you passion.

Looks good.

We shape the slopes and the falling mus disturbed the water coloring it in a muddy chocolate tint -- it will take few weeks to settle and clear up. the clay particles takes long to settle but when it will, it will create a thin layer that will improve the water holding capacities of the pond.



the soft slopes are designed in angles that will be comfortable to walk on or sit by the pond watching the water.