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  • From: Stella <stella@finca-luna.com>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] Pond construction
  • Date: Thu, 29 Nov 2007 10:48:58 +0100

I´ve recently had the pleasure of meeting Sepp as he visited our Island, and he gave me his DVD and CD (which I had had difficulties getting hold of: they're very good, if you can, get them).

I didn´t ask him about ponds specifically but he mentioned he's thought of a water-retention system could would work for us here, using pulverized vulcanic rock we have in abundance ... so am looking forward to finding out more about that, but it has to be experimented with still.

The message being, as in anything with permaculture, that what works best is some locally adapted solution, after doing lots of observation of nature and experimenting on a small scale first.
Obvioustly what soil you have is totally critical. But if you want to know what worked in his alpine region, see below...

Personally, I have seen many a pond fail with the compacting clay method, and give 'natural pond design' a bad name... after which people rip the thing up and put down cement or plastic (& sometimes both, if they´ve gotten really upset with the experience!) It can be very traumatic.

What Sepp says he observed on his farm was how pigs agitated the water-earth mix and how they found the damp hollows to start doing this .. so they don´t just compact, but probably cause the watery mud mix to separate then layer perfectly (big particles at the bottom, purest fine clay particles at the top) by sedimentation, once they go off somewhere else.
This is not exactly what he says happens, it´s just what I know happens from being a potter. What he does say on his video (highly reccomended) is that all he does is imitate this agitating action with an excavator, on a larger scale.
I imagine the pig's shit, hair, etc. may have something to do with glay formation also however... but this may only be a significant detail in more porous soils than he has.

On his site you can see how to buy the various DVDs, CDs, books etc, where they've accumulated a lot of info. This is an extract from the interactive CD:

"The structure of a man-made pond should be as close to a natural pond as possible. It is very important for the pond to have areas of both deep and shallow water. Only such a structure allows the creation of a self-sustaining ecosystem, because it provides the different habitats that each of the plants and animals need. Deep water can be used by the fish as a retreat to survive cold winters, and it also prevents the pond from being overgrown with water plants. Shallow zones encourage many varieties of fish to reproduce. The structure of the pond needs to be adjusted to fit the geological conditions of the site as well.

3.5.1 Creating a pond First the planned shape of the pond is digged out; the size and kind of the utilised equipment depends on the terrain, and on the size of the pond. Small moist biotopes can be created by hand, but for larger structures we recommend the use of excavators. To construct banks, it is necessary to divide coarse soil from the fine. This is done by piling the excavated soil into a tall heap. The coarse parts will roll down the sides, the fine soil remains on the heap. The structure of the bank consists of various layers of fine soil, each about 30 to 50 cm high, which are packed to densen them. When larger ponds are created, the different layers can be compacted by driving over them with an excavator. The coarse material will be used later to stabilise and secure the banks. It can also be incorporated into the pond to create different micro-biotopes. After the pond has been shaped, the bottom has to be compacted. Water is poured into the basin, enough that the excavator will be in water of 30 – 40 cm depth. Then the bottom of the pond is agitated with a narrow excavator shovel. The shovel is inserted approx. one half to one meter deep into the ground and is agitated. The depth depends on the geological conditions. This action makes the fine soil particles sink to the ground and compact the bottom of the pond. The method is similar to the vibroflotation of concrete. After the pond bottom has been compacted, the banks have to be finished. Rocks and root stocks can be used for this. Rocks that project from the water surface quickly accumulate heat from the sun, thus raising the waters temperature. In winter the pond will not be covered entirely with ice, or only for a much shorter time, decreasing the potential risk for the fish population due to oxygen deficiency. This effect is especially valuable in water gardens, where thermophilic species of fish and water plants are reared. It is even possible to breed Japanese Koi karps in a region, which is known as the “Austrian Siberia”. Our method of creating ponds is very different to conventional techniques. Conventional methods use lining to make the pond bottom impermeable. However, the lining can be easily damaged. Moreover inserting a pond-lining is costly and labour-intensive. We are convinced that a natural pond should not have any lining as it impedes the formation of a natural pond bottom.



El 24/11/2007, a las 15:07, Vital Scherrer escribió:

Hello,
Is anybody familiar with the pond construction technique of Sepp Holzer?
Reportedly he built ponds by copying the way the pigs create their mud pools
- by compacting the soil. I asked him for detailed information about this.
He told me to contact the people which are involved in his project in
Portugal. They don't seem to be able to help me with this either. Therefore
I would appreciate any practical information about this or another
relatively easy, natural and durable pond building method - for a pond of
around 30m x 10m.
Regards
Vital

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