making a pond shallower temporarily?

[zac]

I recently purchased a home that has a pond that is about 3' deep. I have a 3 year old daughter and will have kid #2 within the year. I know that there are several options for making your pond safe but what I would like to do is this. I would like to make my pond only about a foot or so deep. This way I could put a small fence around it for really little kids and then by the time they are big enough to climb the fence they will be able to stand in the pond. However, I would like to make the pond deeper again some day. What I was thinking about was just filling the pond with something that I would be able to dig back out several years from now. It is a pretty small pond. I was wondering if I could just fill it with sand. Are there other materials that woudl be better for a pond? I would like to avoid having to hand place big rock as it will be about 5 cubic yards of material.

Thanks for your time

Zac

 

[DrDave]

Welcome Zac, please add your city to the location in the User CP.
1 foot is a little risky as a far as depth goes. My upper pond is 18" and has worked, albeit a little shallow as Koi ponds go. At 18", a toddler should be able to easily get out.
My nephew did a nose dive into mine a few years ago. He leaned too far over while standing on one of my Japanese bridges. Other than the scare, he was fine. Ponds that are more than 18" deep require permits and a fence where I live. That tells me that depths up to 18" are not considered a threat to the County authorities.
During the really hot months, it can get to 108 degrees here. A shallow pond can get very warm when that happens. Oregon is a lot cooler, so maybe that is not a concern.

 

[koikeepr]

If you're worried about safety, a child can drown in only a few inches of water, so your depth really doesn't matter. You either put a high enough fence in to protect your kids and teach them not to go near it (mine don't) or you abandon a pond until your kids are older.

 

[zac]

18" would be fine by me. I don't really see myself getting into koi I was thinking more plants and some cheap goldfish. It seems that the material I use is a topic for debate.

As far as the depth not being an issue, with all due respect, I don;t buy into that. It may be possible for a 2 year old to drown in a few inches of water but I would question the likelyhood of the reqjuired circumsatnces. If a child is old enough to climb a 2 foot fence than I would have confidence is his/her ability to stand in 18" of water. My question is not so much about whether I should have a pond but whether filling it with sand or gravel is an option to make it shallower temporarily

 

[DrDave]

I think I would pull out the liner, fill it with sand to the desired depth, then replace the liner. Later on, if you decide to go deeper, the sand is easily removed.
Build your fence posts removable so it is easy to remove for pond service or when your kids are older and it is no longer needed.

 

[DrCase]

You see a child's pic on a five gal bucket..any thing could happen any time
I nice fence around a pond to keep the little one safe is your best bet..how ever deep it is

Like DrDave said sand is easy to dig back out