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Most of the rainfall occurs during the summer Irrigation ponds are generally limited to small
months when many seasonal crops are not in production acreage such as some vegetable,
production. Also, rainfall events which occur during strawberry, and nursery operations. The water may be
the growing season often exceed the infiltration used for crop establishment, seasonal water
capacities of the fields, resulting in surface runoff. requirements, cold protection, or water for spray
Both of these circumstances produce free water equipment.
which is not utilized for crop production. Ponds can
capitalize on this free resource for many benefits, Aquaculture, or the production of aquatic foods,
This bulletin discusses the uses of ponds, types, and is becoming popular in some areas of Florida.
some procedures for designing and sizing excavated Catfish, crawfish, and prawns can be produced in
ponds. An appendix contains specific examples to ponds as a commercial operation, or the pond may be
help with the understanding of this material. used as a private fishing reservoir.
1. This document is BUL257, one of a series of the Agricultural and Biological Engineering Department, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of
Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida. Original publication date April, 1999. Reviewed July, 2002. Visit the EDIS Web Site at
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu.
2. G. A. Clark, Former Assistant Professor, Department of Agricultural Engineering; C. D. Stanley, Professor, Department of Soil and Water Science; F. Z.
Zazueta, Acting Program Director and Professor, Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering; E. E. Albregts, Former Professor, Agricultural
Research and Education Center, Dover, Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville,
32611.
The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) is an Equal Employment Opportunity - Affirmative Action Employer authorized to provide
research, educational information and other services only to individuals and institutions that function without regard to race, creed, color, religion,
age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, political opinions or affiliations. For information on obtaining other extension
publications, contact your county Cooperative Extension Service office. Florida Cooperative Extension Service / Institute of Food and Agricultural
Sciences / University of Florida / Larry R. Arrington, Interim Dean
Farm Ponds in Florida Irrigation Systems 2
watering sites for other wildlife. These uses may be into the pond. Florida has high levels of
combined for multiple purposes. However, if more evapotranspiration, therefore sizing a pond to meet
than one purpose is intended, the water supply must annual or seasonal needs may not be feasible. The
be adequate to meet all needs and the uses must be pond may be sized to provide sufficient storage for a
compatible. For example, livestock may pollute a shorter period of time, such as a one or two week
pond intended for recreation. period. See the Appendix for specific examples.
Location
(Figure 3) .
Factors such as soil characteristics and the
Irrigation requirements depend on several existence of local springs must be considered in site
factors such as the length of the growing season, selection. A dependable spring may reduce the size of
effective rainfall, crop water requirements, the required watershed for a given size of pond.
application efficiency of the irrigation system, Conversely, highly permeable soils which are typical
number of acres to be irrigated, and expected inflows in most of Florida, may increase the size of the
Farm Ponds in Florida Irrigation Systems 3
required watershed for a given pond size. Some ponds impounded area should hold water with minimum
may require supplemental recharge from another seepage.
water source such as a well during high demand
periods. An example of this would be a frost/freeze Soils with high amounts of clay are good for the
protection pond in strawberry production. ponded area. However, sandy clays and loam soils
will still impound water. Soils with high levels of
The primary use of the pond is another factor to sand or gravel may have excessive seepage unless
consider in pond location. A fire protection pond water tables are naturally high. A pond sealer or
should be located as near as possible to the structures lining may be necessary in these situations, but will
to be protected. Irrigation ponds should be located significantly increase the cost of the pond. Nearby
near the crop to be irrigated, especially if recovery of existing ponds can provide clues to local
irrigation runoff is desired. Sites which would requirements and the possibility of success for
contain runoff from barn lots, sewage disposal fields, impounding water.
or other pollutant sources should be avoided.
Additional Design Considerations
Embankment ponds should be located where they
would impound the greatest volume of water with the Side slopes depend on the stability of the
least amount of fill. Ideal sites have narrow valleys at excavated material. Side slopes of excavated ponds
the dam site with large reservoir areas. should be no steeper than the natural angle of repose
of the material being excavated. The angle of repose
Depth varies with the soil. For example, clay soils have a
steeper angle of repose than sandy soils. The side
Large areas of shallow water should be avoided
slopes should always be flatter than 1:1.
unless the site is to be used to attract waterfowl.
Evaporative losses are higher at these sites than at Another safety factor to be considered is
sites with deeper water. Also, aquatic plants are more freeboard. Freeboard is the added height of the soil
difficult to control in shallow water. surface over the design water surface elevation. This
is included to keep water from washing over the sides
In Florida, ponds should be at least 6 to 8 feet
of the pond due to wave action or flooding. Ponds
deep. Evaporation losses are higher in some areas
less than 660 feet long should have a minimum of 1
than others and vary from year to year and within the
foot of freeboard. Larger ponds with lengths of 660 to
year. Seasonally used ponds may have low
1320 feet should use 1.5 feet of freeboard. Ponds with
evaporative conditions during the period of intended
lengths in excess of 1320 up to 2600 feet should have
use. However, evaporative losses could approach 6
a minimum freeboard of 2 feet.
inches per month during the summer. Water losses by
seepage vary depending upon the soil conditions at Spillways supply another measure of safety by
the pond and local water table conditions and may providing a controlled conveyance route for excess
range from 1 to 4 feet per year. water. Concrete, steel, or PVC pipe spillways are
used for directing and controlling flood waters. These
Estimated losses from evaporation and seepage are placed to maintain the pond water surface at some
should be added to the recommended depth of the
desired level and must be properly stabilized to
pond. Schwab et al. (1971) suggest computing
prevent a washout. A trained engineer or technician
minimum depth by adding 40% to 60% of total
should be consulted for sizing of the spillways.
storage for evaporation, seepage, and other
non-usable requirements. Storage Estimation
Soils Because the sides of the pond are sloped, surface
area is not constant and will vary with depth.
Soil properties at the pond site should be
Therefore, computing the volume of stored water is
determined prior to construction. The soils in the
not always an easy task, but is necessary to obtain the
Farm Ponds in Florida Irrigation Systems 4
Storage capacity of excavated ponds does not The applications of ponds for use in Florida were
vary linearly with depth, unless the sides are vertical. discussed in terms of livestock water needs, irrigation
The storage capacity or volume (V, Ac-ft) at any uses, aquaculture, fire protection, and recreation. Site
depth (D, ft) can be calculated by using the two base selection requires input on the type of pond, size,
lengths (B w and BL, ft) and the side slope ratio (Z) depth, water source for recharge, and soils. Design
as: considerations for sizing and construction of
excavated ponds were discussed, and example design
It is important to keep the base lengths and depth problems were included in an appendix.
in units of feet, then storage volume will be in
acre-feet. (Table 2) can be used to determine base References
lengths from known surface lengths or vice-versa by
keeping in mind that the base length will always be Baldwin, L. B. and R. R. Carriker. 1985. Water
smaller. (Table 3) , (Table 4) , and (Table 5) can be Resource Management In Florida. IFAS Bulletin
used to determine pond storage volumes for selected 206, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL. 16 pp.
base lengths and depths with side slope ratios of 1:1, Butson, K. D. and G. M. Prine. 1968. Weekly
2:1, and 3:1, respectively. Rainfall Frequencies In Florida. IFAS Circular
S-187, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL. 41 pp.
Farm Ponds in Florida Irrigation Systems 5
Harrison, D. S., J. F. Gerber, and R. E. Choate. (Note: 1 acre = 43560 square feet)
1974. Sprinkler Irrigation For Cold Protection. IFAS
Circular 348, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL. 1. A grower wishes to have a pond for irrigation
19 pp. water to be used for frost and freeze protection of
40 acres of cropped area. The irrigation system
Schwab, G. O., R. K. Frevert, K. K. Barnes, and delivers water at 0.25 inches per hour. The pond
T. W. Edminster. 1971. Farm Reservoirs, p. is to be sized to hold water for three consecutive
189-204. In: Elementary Soil and Water Engineering. freeze nights with twelve hours of protection
John Wiley And Sons, Inc New York. each night.
Smajstrla, A. G., G. A. Clark, S. F. Shih, F. Z. Size the pond assuming negligible losses from
Zazueta, and D. S. Harrison. 1984. Potential evaporation or seepage during the period the pond is
Evapotranspiration Probabilities and Distributions In needed. Also consider two cases: (1) no return flow
Florida. IFAS Bulletin 205, University of Florida, from surface runoff; and (2) 50% return flow from
Gainesville, FL. 24 pp. surface runoff.
Soil Conservation Service. 1984. Ponds And From (Figure 4) the required volume per 12 hour
Reservoirs, Chapter 11. In: Engineering Field night is 0.25 Ac-Ft per acre. Therefore, for 40 acres
Manual . United States Department of Agriculture, the nightly requirement is:
Soil Conservation Service, Washington, D.C.
Nightly Requirement: (40 acres) x (0.25 Ac
Appendix Ft/acre) = 10 Acre-Feet
used to provide an estimate of the pond storage The required volume of recharge can be
volume. Because the exact dimensions are not determined using Table 3 with the following
available in this table, available values will be used to information:
provide estimates. A water depth of 12 feet will
provide an estimate of the 13 foot values, base (Figure 3) can be used to convert this value to its
lengths of 100 and 200 feet will be used to bracket the equivalent in gallons. A volume of 6.80 Acre-Feet is
152 foot base length, and base lengths of 500 and 600 approximately equal to 2,200,000 gallons. Therefore
feet will be used to bracket the 552 foot base length. the time required to supply this volume at 1100gpm
is:
For B W = 200, B L = 600, and D = 12; V =
35.76 Ac-Ft
Table 1.
Livestock Consumption
(Gal/Head/Day)
Hogs 4
Sheep 2
Table 2.
Table 2. Base lengths (B) for excavated ponds with different side lengths (L) and depths (D).
Base Length, B (ft)
Depth, D (ft)
Length L (ft) Z 4 8 12 16
100 1 92 84 76 68
200 1 192 184 176 168
300 1 292 284 276 268
400 1 392 384 376 368
500 1 492 484 476 468
600 1 592 584 576 568
700 1 692 684 676 668
800 1 792 784 776 768
900 1 892 884 876 868
1000 1 992 984 976 968
100 2 84 68 52 36
200 2 184 168 152 136
300 2 284 268 252 236
400 2 384 368 352 336
500 2 484 468 452 436
600 2 584 568 552 536
700 2 684 668 652 636
800 2 784 768 752 736
900 2 884 868 852 836
1000 2 984 968 952 936
100 3 76 52 28 4
200 3 176 152 128 104
300 3 276 252 228 204
400 3 376 352 328 304
500 3 476 452 428 404
600 3 576 552 528 504
700 3 676 652 628 604
Farm Ponds in Florida Irrigation Systems 9
Table 2.
Table 3.
Table 3. Storage volume (V) for rectangular excavated ponds with side slopes of 1:1, Z = 1. Selected base lengths (B and B ) and
W L
depths (D) are presented.
B B 2 4 6 9 12 15
W L
Table 3.
Table 4.
Table 4. Storage volume (V) for rectangular excavated ponds with side slopes of 2:1, Z = 2. Selected base lengths (B and B ) and
W L
depths (D) are presented.
B B 2 4 6 9 12 15
W L
Table 4.
Table 5.
Table 5. Storage volume (V) for rectangular excavated ponds with side slopes of 3:1, Z = 3. Selected base lengths (B and B ) and
W L
depths (D) are presented.
B B 2 4 6 9 12 15
W L
Table 5.