Darn, you went all out! Very nice job!

C ROC N said:

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RCR06 said:

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Blue Bell Ag said:

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C ROC N said:

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Does it have alot of cedars nearby?

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Mine doesn't hold water to well and there are cedars nearby.

Serious question: What do cedars have to do with the pond holding water?

Thanks

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Cedars "drink" a lot of water.

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I am an Aquatic Science teacher and we helped with a water conservation project that cleared out over 200 acres of cedars near a previous running creek. The creek ran 10 years prior. After clearing the cedars, water started running again shortly after. Cedars are the reason the state of TX ran a program to reestablish water in certain areas. Ranchers were paid to clear cedars.

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Wasn't there a study done on the Blanco years back where the State and Ranchers cleared cedar and mesquite from both sides of the Blanco river so many miles and feet from the rivers edge and the Blanco began flowing quite a bit more water?

Shoefly! said:

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C ROC N said:

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RCR06 said:

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Blue Bell Ag said:

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C ROC N said:

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Does it have alot of cedars nearby?

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Mine doesn't hold water to well and there are cedars nearby.

Serious question: What do cedars have to do with the pond holding water?

Thanks

---

Cedars "drink" a lot of water.

---

I am an Aquatic Science teacher and we helped with a water conservation project that cleared out over 200 acres of cedars near a previous running creek. The creek ran 10 years prior. After clearing the cedars, water started running again shortly after. Cedars are the reason the state of TX ran a program to reestablish water in certain areas. Ranchers were paid to clear cedars.

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Wasn't there a study done on the Blanco years back where the State and Ranchers cleared cedar and mesquite from both sides of the Blanco river so many miles and feet from the rivers edge and the Blanco began flowing quite a bit more water?

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I drive past the Blanco River several times a week headed to my ranch. It's dead dry. There a pools of water in spots but the majority of the river is bone dry.

https://txmn.org/alamo/area-resources/natural-areas-and-linear-creekways-guide/the-ashe-juniper/

Good read

i built an 8 acre lake, used no liner only clay. holds water with no issues. it is 40 feet deep in places. the math they gave me said it needed over 10 million gallons to fill. i left the ranch that afternoon, went back 3 weeks later and it was overflowing because we got rain.

my pond is more than half dry right now. the areas that are 5 to 10 feet deep are dry, dead bass i had stocked are laying everywhere. my lake does not leak. it is going dry because of the drought in texas.

the idea of using a well to pump water in is a joke. daily evaporation will consume whatever your well can put in. believe me, i tried the same thing. and if the soil is dry and cracked because the pond is dry - any well water you pump in there will sink into the soil and you will never see it. on top of burning up your well pump and possible drying your well by taking that much water out.

just pray for a tropical cyclone to fill it, or a wet winter. dont waste money on a liner or pumping well water

Pasadena Ag said:

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i built an 8 acre lake, used no liner only clay. holds water with no issues. it is 40 feet deep in places. the math they gave me said it needed over 10 million gallons to fill. i left the ranch that afternoon, went back 3 weeks later and it was overflowing because we got rain.

my pond is more than half dry right now. the areas that are 5 to 10 feet deep are dry, dead bass i had stocked are laying everywhere. my lake does not leak. it is going dry because of the drought in texas.

the idea of using a well to pump water in is a joke. daily evaporation will consume whatever your well can put in. believe me, i tried the same thing. and if the soil is dry and cracked because the pond is dry - any well water you pump in there will sink into the soil and you will never see it. on top of burning up your well pump and possible drying your well by taking that much water out.

just pray for a tropical cyclone to fill it, or a wet winter. dont waste money on a liner or pumping well water

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I hear what your saying, but it totally depends on tge size if the lake and the flow rate of well/pump. I know plenty of lakes with wells and they are easily kept full. Yes, an 8 acre lake is huge and would be hard to keep full or make a dent in evaporation loss. Fairly easy in a 1 or 2 acre lake.

The evaporation rate on a normal hot day in central Texas area is about a 1/5 of an inch per day.

docb said:

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That ATV didn't hurt anything at all. Have you ever actually walked on a liner?

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Yes I have built and walked on many lakes with a poly liner. You go ahead and drive your ATV around and let the rocks/sticks poke holes in it. Then let me know how you are going to fix the leaks?

jpb1999 said:

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Pasadena Ag said:

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i built an 8 acre lake, used no liner only clay. holds water with no issues. it is 40 feet deep in places. the math they gave me said it needed over 10 million gallons to fill. i left the ranch that afternoon, went back 3 weeks later and it was overflowing because we got rain.

my pond is more than half dry right now. the areas that are 5 to 10 feet deep are dry, dead bass i had stocked are laying everywhere. my lake does not leak. it is going dry because of the drought in texas.

the idea of using a well to pump water in is a joke. daily evaporation will consume whatever your well can put in. believe me, i tried the same thing. and if the soil is dry and cracked because the pond is dry - any well water you pump in there will sink into the soil and you will never see it. on top of burning up your well pump and possible drying your well by taking that much water out.

just pray for a tropical cyclone to fill it, or a wet winter. dont waste money on a liner or pumping well water

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I hear what your saying, but it totally depends on tge size if the lake and the flow rate of well/pump. I know plenty of lakes with wells and they are easily kept full. Yes, an 8 acre lake is huge and would be hard to keep full or make a dent in evaporation loss. Fairly easy in a 1 or 2 acre lake.

The evaporation rate on a normal hot day in central Texas area is about a 1/5 of an inch per day.

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An inch of water over two acres is only about 54,000 gallons of water, and a 15 gpm pump will put out 21,600 gallons of water in 24 hours. I'd say it would make a dent.

Good article! I think some of those notes are what I read years ago.
I do disagree with this statement:

Quote:

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the low intensity rains that characterize the Hill Country.

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IMO, the Hill Country isn't about low intensity rains but rather very HIGH intensity rains. I can't find any info online about it, but I recall reading somewhere that the Hill Country has the most intense (inches of rainfall per hour) non-hurricane rainstorms in the continental US. Something to do with the fronts coming off the plains colliding with warm gulf air over the topographical rise of the hill country.

All I can find to corroborate is this:

Quote:

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Woodward Ranch, Texas (about 17 miles northwest of D'Hanis, which is 40 miles west of San Antonio) measured an amazing 10.00" in 1 hour, 15.00" in 2 hours and a world record 22.00" in 2 hours and 45 minutes on May 31, 1935 between 3:00-6:00 a.m.

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Anecdotal but gives an example of what the area is capable of.
Hard Rain

SENIOR FAN said:

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docb said:

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That ATV didn't hurt anything at all. Have you ever actually walked on a liner?

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Yes I have built and walked on many lakes with a poly liner. You go ahead and drive your ATV around and let the rocks/sticks poke holes in it. Then let me know how you are going to fix the leaks?

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Ok I'll be sure to do that

Shoefly! said:

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C ROC N said:

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RCR06 said:

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Blue Bell Ag said:

---

C ROC N said:

---

Does it have alot of cedars nearby?

---

Mine doesn't hold water to well and there are cedars nearby.

Serious question: What do cedars have to do with the pond holding water?

Thanks

---

Cedars "drink" a lot of water.

---

I am an Aquatic Science teacher and we helped with a water conservation project that cleared out over 200 acres of cedars near a previous running creek. The creek ran 10 years prior. After clearing the cedars, water started running again shortly after. Cedars are the reason the state of TX ran a program to reestablish water in certain areas. Ranchers were paid to clear cedars.

---

Wasn't there a study done on the Blanco years back where the State and Ranchers cleared cedar and mesquite from both sides of the Blanco river so many miles and feet from the rivers edge and the Blanco began flowing quite a bit more water?

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I no nothing of a study on the Blanco, but this study was done in Medina County by my former Ag teacher in an area with similar terrain and soils.


https://journals.uair.arizona.edu/index.php/rangelands/article/viewFile/11161/10434

Some of the results are what led to the State implementing the Cedar clearing program. Later, the enviro wackos stopped most of it with the Golden-cheeked warbler.

Apache said:

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Good article! I think some of those notes are what I read years ago.
I do disagree with this statement:

Quote:

---

the low intensity rains that characterize the Hill Country.

---

IMO, the Hill Country isn't about low intensity rains but rather very HIGH intensity rains. I can't find any info online about it, but I recall reading somewhere that the Hill Country has the most intense (inches of rainfall per hour) non-hurricane rainstorms in the continental US. Something to do with the fronts coming off the plains colliding with warm gulf air over the topographical rise of the hill country.

All I can find to corroborate is this:

Quote:

---

Woodward Ranch, Texas (about 17 miles northwest of D'Hanis, which is 40 miles west of San Antonio) measured an amazing 10.00" in 1 hour, 15.00" in 2 hours and a world record 22.00" in 2 hours and 45 minutes on May 31, 1935 between 3:00-6:00 a.m.

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Anecdotal but gives an example of what the area is capable of.
Hard Rain

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That info on the Woodward ranch is very true! It created a 10 foot wall of water to come through D'Hanis and washed some houses off their foundations. It flooded the mile wide valley between the Parker and Seco creeks with 10-12 feet of water. Displaced some workers on our family ranch that had to be rescued out of the trees.


You can find the same information for your county using the Soil Science Survey information from your local SCS or on their webpsite:

https://websoilsurvey.sc.egov.usda.gov/App/HomePage.htm

This will tell you average rainfall per month and maximum amounts recorded in months and days historically. Pond and lake designers (engineers) use this info to properly design them to the correct size for the drainage area. This is where they get the 100 year flood information.

In a side note, unofficially, a Bandera County Commissioner measured 42+ inches in 36 hours in the fall of 1997. It was + because his 5" rain guage ran over three times while he was out putting up road closed signs. It sent 3-4 feet of water through downtown Utopia. When you get storms that "train " over the same area for an extended time, it can have amazing effects.

Lived in the hill country most of my life. Don't remember much along the line of "gentle rains".

I sure wish we would get a big rain event. Not devastating but maybe 6 inches.