I know that this web site isn't intended as a survivalist forum. Can anyone suggest one that is?

I want to make a water storage pond on a hill above my garden. My neighbor has a front loader/backhoe so digging it will not be a problem. I was thinking about a BIG pond, maybe 200,000 gallons. Does anyone know what kind of waterproofing would be cheapest and most effective? I do not want to pay a lot for this muffler. This pond is dual purpose: It will supply my garden with water during the dry summer and prove power because the pond will be a good 100 feet above the level of the garden. I would also like to use it to raise fish, but this is not an absolute requirement. If the pond isn't for fish, then I can cover it so as to keep off the sun. What material would be the way to go? I looked up some pond liners online and they were insanely expensive. Anyone have any suggestions?

On my family land in the Shenandoah Valley, it seems like we dig a pond every couple months. We have about 20 loaders, backhoes, dozers, etc. all for personal use. The only requirement we look for prior to digging, is a natural spring. I don't know what your area is like, but I assume there is a spring where you are planning to put your pond. I'm not sure why you would want to line the bottom, or cover the top. If you plan on just digging a hole and filling it from another source, evaporation will take it away almost as fast as you can fill it. If you cover it, it will become stagnate and not fit to drink. All of our ponds are full of fish and we use them for watering the garden and numerous other uses as well. We even have a water pump hooked to the PTO of one of our tractors, so we can wash cars, water animals etc.

I'm not sure if this helps, but my recommendation is to find a spring, dig a hole and let nature do the rest.

Good luck, George

Hi Hilary,

Welcome to ETS. There are many forum members here, some of which may well be able to help you out better than I.

You might try doing an internet search using words like "water storage ponds" "fish ponds" "water power generation" and see where that leads you. There is a bunch of information available that will help point you in the right direction.

As far as your other question, a similar search using words like "survivalism" will likely provide information your looking for as well. Heads up, some of the survivalism sites can be rather full of religious / political / outcast posturing and related vehemence. Tread lightly and take it all with a rather large "grain of salt". I'm not implying that they are all bad and/or that some of the information is not good, just that many the sites I've come across generally not as polite and courteous as Equipped is. I was surprised to see how much "flame-baiting" and "trolling" existed on some of them and felt that it was a sad thing that some of the good information quickly got buried in the vocal infighting.

Be safe,
Comanche7

For a good survivalist site just jamb-packed with useful practical stuff you might want to try The Rocky Mountain Survival Group. From thier site you will want this page

Well, I've been trying to get this blankety blank thing to post for quite some time - things have timed out repeatedly... here's what I wrote several hours ago:

Welcome. 200,000 gallons - an unusal unit of measure for a pond <grin> - let's say about 27,000 cubic feet, which would be a bit over ½ acre-foot of water. You don't say how far north you are, but I will assume that an average depth of 5 feet will (barely) let fish winter over or leave you about 1/2 your water available during the wintertime IF you start with a full pond (but not both at the same time). If you're up high or into upstate NY, that depth needs to be increased.

So, say a surface area of about 100 feet by 54 feet with an average depth of 5 feet. An expansive soil - clay - would be the cheapest liner (plus it's self-healing) IF that's the soil type you have - too many variables to cost that are dependant on info you don't supply to swag more than that.

That is a big hole to hack out with a small backhoe - really, with any backhoe - and the buckets on those are for loading, not digging. It's the wrong piece of equipment. A bulldozer is better - much better - at that sort of thing, or PERHAPS an excavator ("power shovel" on crawler tracks). But rural ponds are rarely made by excavation - usually one selects a suitable natural drainage and constructs a dam - with or without terraforming before filling.

In my state (Illinois), a 1/2 acre-foot pond would probably not be regulated, but you need to check your own state laws. Usually it's a fairly simple decision matrix involving amount impounded, height of impoundment, and danger (if any) to downstream developments. Regulation brings required maintenance and inspection and certification by registered professionals on a regular basis - which is actually very good sense.

Hire a professional - a registered professional - to design the pond for you - it will be the cheapest way to wind up with a pond that does what you want. Don't forget to consider mosquito control, specifically of the cuellex type mosquitos, because West Nile Virus is for real (and not the only disease that cuellex is a vector for) and neighbors within a couple of miles would be warranted in complaining if you don't control mosquitos. Larvicides are available, but I personally feel that natural controls are best (consult your state DNR and/or Dept of Public Health for native species that feed on mosquito larvae)

Oh - is your volume estimate of the size pond you want or of the amount of water you want to be able to draw off at a specific time of year? And all ponds eutrify (die by filling in) - very quickly if one does not construct and maintain a forebay to capture sediment that runs in. It will make a huge difference in the size of pond you build...

There's a whole lot more, but once you talk to a professional you'll be on the right track.

You could chat with the folks over at The Mother Earth News about your pond, but they (M.E.N.) have suggested things in the past that are, erm, well, oblivious to impacts/effects on neighbors - which is about where my rights end and my neighbors rights begin... talk to a professional and then decide if you want to hire him/her.

Hope this helps!

PS - I've glanced over the other replies and links and don't disagree with the other posts - but you are talking a decent farm-sized pond in a northerly clime - not a backyard pond. Change your AVERAGE depth to 2 feet and you're now talking about a 13,500 square foot surface area pond - say, 100 feet by 135 feet. Small for farms, but huge for folks who aren't raising fish or livestock.

Regards,

Tom