Wisconsin groundwater pond, need direction

13 years ago

My pond is a year old. It's about 1500 gallons in the Spring, and I cannot say for sure how many gallons in the late Summer because of the bad drought. It all started when I noticed a tunnel of water shooting into my creek. I dug away at the tunnels, here's a picture from late April 2012: http://i.imgur.com/Q1TmR2A.jpg I eventually dug out a hole for the water to pond up in.

It had a tough summer, worst drought we've had in 100 years, the water disappeared, which allowed me to dig deeper, through ~18" of clay and had to dig through a few inches of conglomerate-type stuff to get water again, but couldn't go deeper because of bedrock. No pics on my computer, but trust me you don't want to see it.

Here's a picture of it post-drought after we got a good 3 inches of rain. This is a just below average height for it, ~400 gallons, 15" deep. Fall 2012 http://i.imgur.com/W0vdTbS.jpg

Here's what she can top out at. This is a full winter's snow melt plus 3 inches of rain over three days: month ago http://i.imgur.com/GZeg2pL.jpg

Here's what it looks like now, from further away. See the ducks enjoying the water? http://i.imgur.com/aJtCt09.jpg

I bought an aerator recently, but the groundwater seems to flow quickly in the spring, and I think that may be a problem because the water maybe doesn't stick around enough to get aerated. I threw a dozen of shiner minnows and a dozen of flathead minnows in there this morning and by noon at least a few had died. Not a good sign, or bait fish are weak. I've had ~15 blue gill in there since the post-drought half a year ago, but only a few actually survived the 14" of water with -30F wind chills over winter, with no aerator! So now I want to add blue gill, and would like to have minnows. Any thoughts?

My other concern is vegetation. I would like grass or tall grass on the banks, and some water plants I don't know what to do because the height fluctuates, and the banks are steep.

Finally I'm wondering about erosion. In a couple pictures you can see how close it is to the seasonal creek. Also the banks of the pond are very steep. There is a few inches of soil, and then 2-3 feet of clay.

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Comment (1)

sleeplessinftwayne
13 years ago
That looks familiar but then I lived in Wisc. for more than 20 years. The area where you dug out the tunnels appears to be in an area where there is plenty of groundwater flowing most of the time but especially during the typical Jan. thaw. It is probably the wettest spot in the yard and is a different type of soil than most of the rest of the yard. If so, you may have a "pothole" left from an ice block left behind eons ago or it may have been a low spot dug by that seasonal stream in flood that filled in with rotting vegetation over time. I remember the first January after our first house was built into a hillside, it sounded like a river was flowing past the house but we couldn't see a thing. Then all the pressure joints in the concrete walls of the basement started shooting out water under pressure. We had to install drainage tile to redirect the flow around the house and have all the joints sealed with epoxy. Wisconsin has some strange geology and the beavers don't help much with their dams.

Is the stream there all the time or is it just in the spring? You may need to observe it for a year or so to make sure the stream doesn't cut into the side and make it larger than you want or expect. or you may have to build up the sides to trap some of that ground water or wind up with a bog rather than a pond.

While I don't always suggest it, you may try to find out if the DNR has an idea where the water is coming from. You mentioned hitting bedrock and I know there are areas where enormous granite ledges underground direct the flow of groundwater. About 15 years ago they finished up a great geological and topographical map of the whole state.

You can figure out how much water is actually flowing through the pond by dropping in an empty or part empty capped jug or bottle and seeing how fast it crosses the pond. It could be flowing along the surface of that bedrock where you can't see it. Have you had the water tested to see if it will support fish? The DNR can help you there.
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