#8 Pond Renovation

Some may have noticed that the water level in the pond directly to the left of #8 green has been low for quite some time.  This pond has been leaking for as long as anyone can remember.  After careful tracking of the water levels in this pond, the determination was made that we were losing approximately 45,000 gallons of water per day!  We have been working closely with an engineering firm and a certified contractor to determine the best means for repairing the pond.  After quite some time and careful planning, we are fortunate to be able to say that we have plans and permits in hand to enable us to begin the process of installing a liner in the pond.  

Most of us can remember the pond at #8 looking something like this.   The goal of this project is to bring the water level back to this level with an impervious liner. 


 


The pond level was especially low in the hot, dry summer months.  At full capacity, this pond will store more than 2,000,000 gallons of water that can be used for irrigation when conditions like these arrive!




We began pumping the remaining water in the pond with this 6" diesel pump.

We pumped the water from #8 through this filter bag, into the main irrigation pond on #9.  We were able to save much of the water from #8, while removing the sediment from the water at the same time.

We were able to install this sump into the base of the pond.  This is a 6' long piece of 15" corrugated drain pipe wrapped with poultry wire.  We drilled holes in the pipe and then back-filled around the pipe with about two tons of gravel.  This will allow the water-filled sediment in the base of the pond to drain over time. 

  In order to get a proper estimate for the water content in the sediment in the bottom of the pond, we needed to take a sample of the sediment and dry it to remove the water.  We chopped and dried over a period of about 2 weeks and then packed the soil inside of a 5-gallon bucket with a sledgehammer and tamper to mimic the compaction of construction equipment.

The dry soil was returned into the same bucket and measured.  We calculated that the soil sample consisted of about 31% water and 69% soil.  This is useful information to be used during construction.  

We are all excited and feel fortunate to be able to have this work done.  We will keep this post updated as these plans are carried out.