Old pond is really a giant soak away, help!?

[Helpneeded]

Hello, I know very little about ponds. We recently have moved and were not made aware that the giant pond 25ft by 15ft is actually a soak away for rain surface water of neighbouring cow fields. The property used to be part of a large farm but was chopped up into parcels over the years and sold of to self builders. Now there are several properties and after speaking to everyone I have found the above information out but haven't had a drainage survey yet. I have located the Incoming pipe and that there has been an over flow fitted which leads to the road dyke to avoid flooding in the garden.
Issue is I would like a pond one third of this size and would like to reduce the size and use water plants and make it more wildlife friendly.
However it runs dry and Empty during points of the summer therefore could never have fish. We get the occasional duck and frogs laying eggs this time of year. It sits beneath a willow and oak tree and is quite smelly too.
I am not sure who I need to approach about a solution, groundsmen? Pond specialists? I have booked in to see a drainage specialist next week about new septic tank and rain water etc options as living rural and doing a development. I wonder if they will be able to assist? This is clay ground which drains slowly and there is a lot of silt at the bottom it has never been maintained or cleaned until last summer when it was dry we cleared all the rubbish out that previous owners had thrown in there such as blankets, barbeques, glass windows, tins , wood and lots of other unbelievable items you should never throw in a pond! Help much appreciated , I hope I have explained enough many thanks

 

[Helpneeded]

Picture of the pond/soak away

 

[Helpneeded]

Here are some photos of last summer when it had run dry and we were able to get in and remove rubbish and start to clear the sides up.

 

[addy1]

Are you thinking of adding a liner? You could make it smaller with a liner and make sure you have a drainage area for the excess water to flow out.

 

[combatwombat]

If grade of the surrounding properties makes that pond the collection spot for run off from cattle fields, you are going to have a hell of a time having a clean, healthy pond. The first step will be to find out what you can do to change the path of drainage from those properties.

I don't think there's any point planning further until you know what your options are to re-route drainage.

 

[TheFishGuy]

I agree with combatwombat. Right now it seems to serve more of a functional purpose rather than decorative, so you need to find another way to fulfill the drainage need before proceeding in making this a decorative pond.

 

[Helpneeded]

Are you thinking of adding a liner? You could make it smaller with a liner and make sure you have a drainage area for the excess water to flow out.

I'm really not sure to be honest that's why I've come to this forum to see if anyone has had the same or similar a s knows the best route forward

 

[Helpneeded]

If grade of the surrounding properties makes that pond the collection spot for run off from cattle fields, you are going to have a hell of a time having a clean, healthy pond. The first step will be to find out what you can do to change the path of drainage from those properties.

I don't think there's any point planning further until you know what your options are to re-route drainage.

Thank you, from what I have researched and been advised noone actually kno s for sure where it's coming from but it is 100% not from any of the properties as they all have their own drainage it's only from a field further up. I would like to know who I could employ to investigate and find it's exact route as it's all underground. Someone mentioned placing drainage boxes and gravel into the large hole and adding another overflow then covering as lawn with a thin layer of soil and turf and not even having a pond there but to choose a different area for a proper pond that can be cleaned and serve wildlife without the smell.

 

[combatwombat]

Someone mentioned placing drainage boxes and gravel into the large hole and adding another overflow then covering as lawn with a thin layer of soil and turf and not even having a pond there

That's called a dry well and, as long as you still have somewhere to send overflow, it could be a good solution. One problem is that you don't control where the run off comes from, so you'll need to find some way to trap sediment before it enters the dry well, otherwise the well will get plugged up in time.

A better design than just gravel is to use soakaway crates. They provide 95% void space vs. drain rock which provides about 40%. Can handle a lot more water in the same space. We use the same product to build different features in our ponds. Wrap them in fabric, bury them in 1' of soil and you can plant a lawn or anything else on top of it and you'd never know it was there.

I see you're in The UK. I'm sure the law works differently there. But I can't think of anywhere in the US where one property would be allowed to literally run a pipe to dump their run off in a hole on a different property. Perhaps it's just very old and grandfathered in. But I'd at least look into figuring out the source of the runoff and then see if you can make the owner of that property fix it.

 

[Helpneeded]

Thanks very much for your tips and knowledge. Yes I completely understand what you are saying and I too am surprised someone can channel their water to your land. I think the issue is it's been like this for many years, I can't say exactly how many but could be 100 maybe 500 years as it's an old site.

 

[GBBUDD]

The drainage was probably pretty clear at the time of purchase and seeing as the farm could be 500 years old good luck with a hardship.
There maybe some clause that a cattle run has to have a contained pond for the cows and not allow contaminated run off to leave the property but like was said above . I'm talking USA standards . you could talk to the local officials and see what they have to say.

As far as it really smells that could be decades or in your case centuries of manure and while not an easy fix . i know folks that live along side them and well it grows on you and becomes the norm.

If you created a berm all around the pond to stop the run off where would the water go next? Is the best solution to fill the pond with stane and cover it with soil thus let it drain on it's own and underground but the stone will take 2/3 of the volume. matrix blocks are an other option and not cheap. and those to can be buried and let the runoff soak in on it's own.

the lack of vegetation around the pond says it maybe very acidic