Course Summary & Description: This handbook provides guidance on some of the required criteria the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has in place for the planning, design, construction and maintenance of ponds.
A pond is defined as a body of standing water, either created naturally or man-made and typically used as an economical, reliable source of water storage for a variety of uses including irrigation, fire protection, recreation, livestock and erosion control.
The construction of ponds has been widespread for many years. Professions, such as farmers and ranchers, consider ponds a necessity of their business success and an extremely reliable and economical source of fresh water.
The information presented in this handbook is based on field experience and observation of land users, engineers, conservationists and other specialists and explores the planning components necessary in estimating the water demand needed for a particular application. In addition, based on the water demand needed, site investigation topics are discussed to ascertain if the location, climate, topography and proposed pond depth is sufficient to meet the needs of its use prior to consideration of the design and construction of the type of pond being envisioned (e.g. excavated or embankment ponds).
This course will provide the user with detailed practical information on the methodologies of pond planning, design and construction in order to provide a pond that will best serve the intended use at any given location. |
