Artificial pond

Farm Questions
1

Hi All,
i plan to dig an artificial pond (20Ft diameter) on my land for rain water harvesting. But was told by an old villager that even if i did, the water may percolate through the soil and rocks. instead of cementing the entire pond from inside - i wanted an alternative and came across - pond liners. would like to know if anyone has used pond liners, what their life expectancy is, costs - any other valuable info.

Thanks and regards
Devyani

2

Hello Devyani,

I read a book by Sepp Holzer about his method of integrated farming. The book had a chapter on pond building. He claims to have developed his method of pond sealing by observing the wallowing of pigs in wet soil. The best part is, there is no introduction of any foreign object into the pond, be it cement or lining polymer. He uses the backside of the loading bucket in a backhoe and pushes against the walls and floor of the newly built pond in a rocking motion. Do google “Sepp Holzer pond sealing” to find more information. There must be a couple of videos on youtube as well.

Cheers,
Karthik

3

Here is blog post by farmnest member Siva on the process of setting up one:

anushafarms.com/process-of-farm-pond/

4

You calso think of river boulders, you need only tranportation charges to procure see below picture.
It is insalled easily. prepare a bed of sand 2" aply cement creame and arragne ther boulders. I am not sure it is 100% leakproof but definitly cheap.
When a layer of litchens grow on it they dont let the water leak, they fill tiny holes.

DSC01758.JPG800×600 402 KB

5

Hi Sri,
any idea if black boulders which can easily fit in our hand can be used ?
We have plenty of such boulders in our farm that we generally put on the boundary of the farm .
Also we can manage some bigger black rocks from river bed, but they will be bigger and uneven in size .

Regards,
ppb

6

River boulders dont leave water to percolate, I have no idea of black boulder. Anyway if you make thicker cement creame it should be ok.
Why do you need even size boulders? pond bed can be uneven, our idea is just to store rain water and construction should be cheap.

7

Thanks all…the idea of Sepp holzer’s naturally made artificial pond sounds tempting…but with impending rains. I will go with a dugout in the ground and line it with a pond liner. Hoping that water harvested during the monsoons will last me for 3-4 months post the rains. But next year i plan to start in advance and aim for a Sepp Holzer like pond…will post pics once done. cheers!