Washed out pond dam

kerrygeek · Feb 20, 2023

I don't know if this is the right place to post this but I thought I'd give it a shot. I was checking one of our ponds yesterday (NE Texas) and noticed it was low. We recently got 4.5 of rain so it should be full. I walked the dam and there's a wash out about 3' deep in the dam, maybe 2-3' wide. There are a lot of trees around the dam so I can't get my tractor in there and don't have a loader on it anyway. What is the best way to fix it? I was thinking throwing down a few bags of cement to keep it from getting worse then when it gets lower in the summer I could dig a footing and dig both right and left behind the bags of cement and build a small retaining wall. Our renter said he can get his tractor with a loader in there to fill in behind it once I get it built up.

Is there a better way to do it? I'm attaching a picture looking at it from the back where it's a little wider. Will the way I described be a legitimate fix? It's going to take a lot of manual labor so I don't want to do it more than once!

Thanks,
Kerry
Hopkins County, TX

Tx Jim · Feb 21, 2023

I think you should consider installing an overflow pipe to hopefully keep dam intact when next high inch rainfall occurs.

kerrygeek · Feb 22, 2023

We have a spillway on the end of the dam, it's worked well for about 50 years but that's one of the things I'm going to check. I'll either use a transit or a water level to make sure my repair is higher than the little spillway. I'll probably have to dig it a little deeper to make sure it doesn't top the dam. I'm not sure it topped it this time, it might have started with a nutria or something, just looking at the dam it's still higher than the spillway but I'll check it. Thanks for the reminder.

Kerry

MJMJ · Feb 23, 2023

There's only one way to actually fix it, and that's to get a dozer in there with an operator that has lots of experience and knowledge of building ponds. Just filling that in will result in the same thing happening again. The trees and roots all need removed, the entire area dug up and then repacked as it's filled in. And the spillway certainly needs lowered. Based on that picture there is no doubt that it was caused by water flowing over the dam and washing that all out. Lowering the spillway would go a long ways in preventing it from happening again. If the water can't reach there, the fix may not have to be so drastic. But that may not be possible, just depends on the pond.

560Dennis · Mar 17, 2023

or blue clay , or clay will seal and give with expansion
I dont recommend Portland cement because the roots will expand the concrete ,it will crack and fail like the roots did in the recent failures.

Texasmark · Apr 4, 2023

All those adjacent trees and roots are your worst enemy. Ag. schools teach you that you don't want any trees on/adjacent to your dam. I think you need to clear the trees out, find some clay soil and pack it in with the overflow pipe as mentioned herein.

I installed an Ell spillway in my 2 acre pond....got the idea from the way the county handles runoff when it wants to cross a road. The impact of the fall is contained in the steel horn (pipe) and the outflow is calm water even though the fall is very turbulent.

Mine is 3' in diameter, cut and welded into an L with the vertical part the short 6' dimension of a 30' pipe. After laying the pipe, I filled in around it with black clay and at the top where the water enters from a short slewth, (small, shallow, grass covered ditch, almost horizontal, I made a concrete bowl ensuring that the water entering the bowl will exit the pipe and not over the dam. Been there 30 years and never had to touch it.

560Dennis · Apr 14, 2023

Did get it fixed up? What did you do to fix it ?

Washed out pond dam

kerrygeek

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Tx Jim

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kerrygeek

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MJMJ

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560Dennis

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Texasmark

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560Dennis

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