Gutter drainage to pond.

Hi,  I've been reading all the posts and love all the information that is gathered here.  But I couldn't quite find what i was looking for, and I was curious if anyone else has achieved this task.  
What im looking to do is send my water from the roof down the drain spout, into drainage tubes to carry the rest about 400' and try to create a pond from the rain water wasted.  And try to use it to water my garden.
Just curious for your input.  Thanks

Hi Dain, welcome to permies!  So, is the future pond location downhill from your downspout?  By approximately how many feet?  Getting water to move up hill is harder yet but doable.  

If you have a moderate downhill path, I'd think the easiest way is to bury 4" non-perforated drain tile from the downspout to the pond.  If you want to water things along the way, you could do a series of swales/ditches to allow the water to meander down to the pond.  

Hi Dain, that is exactly what I want to do!  Would love to hear from others on their experiences if they have actually done this - am    a bit worried about creating a mud hole if there is no natural spring or creek feeding it.  Plenty of rain here - @44 inches per year on average, so I am sure it would fill, just wondered if it would stagnate between rainfall events without a continuous source of water flowing into it.  

Not exactly, but kinda.

I have diverted roof runoff to a swale and planted berry bushes on top and downside. It fills and slowly seeps into the hillside.

Paul's video on world domination gardening was helpful on ideas for swales and ponds.  I had never done it before but after watching, I rented some equipment and my son and I put in three ponds, all currently full.

The one that has a bit of stream running through it is clearest for sure. The second that is full shade had clay soil in the area, holds water so far through hot summer. Added ducks to that area so they keep it stirred up.

The big pond, has no running water source. And it did get a good bit lower (full sun = lots of evaporation) and it had some algeal blooms. It is big enough to catch a breeze which helps keep it stirred. But will have to add lime occasionally to keep ph suboptimal for algae.

So, consider your site carefully as sun, wind, soil, and waterflow will have impact.

Good luck!

Thanks for your input. The elevation level I would say is approximately 15' lower at the destination I want the pond to be. So getting the water there shouldn't be the problem.
It would be like someone said would the water be stagnant. Because of only getting filed with rain water.  And should I do an overflow from the pond into the tree line,  so the ground doesn't get saturated on the low end.  
I will try to get some pictures up of the approximate location.  But due to the snow yesterday it might be a little bit.  
Would one filter at the end of the downspout be could out should another oone be located to gain access to.  I do like the idea of the swales but I'm just not sure where to place them.  Because I plan on doing the piping down my yard behind house,  150' down then im going to be beside my garage (wood side)  then another approximate 250' to the pond.  But it has narrow access to the field then widens out.
Thank you

This is the progress I've made so far with a million different projects going on.  
I checked the elevation difference from the house where my gutter will be going to the corner of my garden.  I think im just gonna do 2 55 gallon drum collection system this yearinstead of the pond.  I have located another spring and area for the pond.
Right now im working on getting some piping down the designated spot right now. Here are the pictures of my slow but surely process.

I am concerned the pipe diameter you have used will not be bigenough.
Any small blockage will render the system useless.
I would have used at least 90mm solid white / spouting / downpipe.

Dain, I cannot see from your signature where you are located.
Does it freeze there?
If not why not capture some of that rainwater and let the overflow go to the low spot?
See a paper I wrote about that
Benefits of collecting rainfall

would it be possible to do something like this?

Now that is a nice way of doing the job, no erosion, plenty of soakage.
But are there weeds that sneak up and ruin the vista?

I've been using my roof water to fill up / top off a small ornamental pond for a few years,  but it is directly in front of the house, so it's just a concrete trough between the two.  
When the pond is full, then the overflow water is directed through plantings directly in front of the house.

As someone else mentioned, the diameter of the pipe you are using might be problematic if you don't have a good screen to keep leaves and other debris out at the beginning.

Hello thank you for your comments. I am using that size pipe because I am cleaning up the yard and it was just laying around.  So im trying to make this project as inexpensive as possible.  But i do plan on doing 2 screens before the water goes in, one will be a little larger mesh while the other will be a little smaller.  
Your pebble creek looks beautiful,  but it would defeat the purpose of what I'm trying to accomplish.  I watched several videos on YouTube of upside down rain barrels where the water will fill equally up the pipe as the barrels. And the elevation difference is roughly 21' 2".
Last year I was filing a 55 gallon drum by hose and driving it to the garden.  So im trying to eliminate that.  If it doesn't work I can say I learned something.  Hopefully that's not the case.  
And yes my location is in maine,  so I can't leave the water in the pipe over winter. My plan is to blow the pipe through with air and plug the end of the pipe.

Dain Parker wrote:
And yes my location is in maine,  so I can't leave the water in the pipe over winter. My plan is to blow the pipe through with air and plug the end of the pipe.

If at all possible, designing in a drain at the downhill side would save a decent amount of trouble come fall.  Blowing out that big a line is a struggle even with a good sized air compressor.  You have plenty of drop, can you just put a tee at the bottom with a valve to drain?  Luckily that tubing is very tough so if you only get it 80% empty it should be fine...

I have an extremely large roof. I have gutters, with leaf guards running 4" non perforated from my east and west side of the house that collect into a 6' non perforated that finally ends at the pond. The kiddos swim in the pond often, so I but a clean out box under a cold shower for them to rinse off the pond water before they get into the pool or hot tub. I did this because I used to have water collect at my front door step. Over the years, through trial and error, I believe I have everything working in a way that best protects my house from wash out. If I can figure out how to pistol pictures,  I will and hopefully it'll help someone out. Over the next year or so, I'll start collecting water in 2 250gal water create and use a DC pump with Solar to irrigate my garden

I have a large roof on my house with gutters all the way around. I live on a sloped hill and was having issues with water trying to get through my front door. So I added gutters to everything, a drain in my front walkway and a few drains to my drive way. I please clean out every 100' for the long runs and clean out boxes after their was a union (2 or 3 pipes collecting to one. I split the house into two sections, east and west. Where the east and west come together, I bumped up from a 4" to a 6" line. That terminates at the bank of the pond. I also have a pool, hot tub and 5 kiddos with tons of friends. So I added a shower head with a clean out box fro them to rinse the pond water off before they head into the pool or hot tub. I have leaf guards and a clean out at every downspout from the gutters. I cheated and used a tractor and plow for all that work. It's sunk in about a foot and the constant sloped yard helps with the flow. Those leaf guards and downspout clean outs is a must. Before I added those I was flushing them ever 3-6 months with a fancy pressure washer tip on Amazon for $8. Now, I haven't had to clean them out for 2 years so far. I also cover all the clean outs with 12x12 blacks to keep dirt from entering the system. It's held up for 10 years now with no issues other than the usual cleaning, which is dramatically reduced by the downspout cleanouts, covering the clean out box's with blocks, and the leaf guards.

I'd hope that someone can read this and take some advice on how I did it. I'm happy with my Frankenstein drainage system and every drop of sweat was a 100% worth it in the end.

I will be adding more/better drain/collection stuff to my driveway sooner or later then I'll call it completely finished. Buy, what I have is working for now. No more swamp on my front porch and no more river's in my yard.

That is a great system in place to capture runoff for the dam.
Instead of 2/ 250 Gal. tanks think about bigger ones that will store enough to get you over any dry spell?
My signature has details of what I am talking about.